


Kindred 13: The Past

by torturingtaylor (itzaimster)



Series: Kindred Series [15]
Category: Hanson
Genre: Brothers, Clones, Conspiracy, Gen, Genetics
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-21
Updated: 2018-08-06
Packaged: 2019-05-23 16:27:09
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 11
Words: 21,478
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14937819
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/itzaimster/pseuds/torturingtaylor
Summary: Mark has been missing for almost eight months, but when Carey gets some unexpected visitors the effort to find him becomes more dire. The Hanson brothers finally start to organize their long-awaited next tour while Walker falls easily into his new role as liaison.





	1. Prologue

“Did you see him?”  
“Who?” Walker cast her a glance from the driver’s seat.  
She was staring out of the window at the lights passing by. She had barely spoken a word since they’d left Tulsa.  
“Carey,” she had trouble getting out, “did you see him? Or just his brother?”  
Walker’s eyes lowered a moment before refocusing on the road ahead.  
“I did. He looked fine,” he disregarded the bruising he’d seen, “he looks a lot like Taylor.”  
Diana nodded to herself, forcing her eyes not to tear. It was silly really. She hadn’t had anything to do with his life until this point and it wasn’t as though they could start now. But she did grieve for time lost and figured that was okay.  
“The sooner we get this over with the sooner we can be on our way back,” Walker tried to reassure her, “we’ll see about maybe talking to him then.”  
“Sure,” she agreed, feigning rubbing sleep from her eyes.

It was well after dark but Alex was on a roll. He’d already started to get the hang of some of the programs that Damien had frequented, and while Morris had insisted that Alex was simply a guest (Alex presumed it was just a nicer way to say ‘voluntary lab rat’) he found his curiosity on both what he could offer the labs – and what they could offer him – was consistently boiling over.  
But because Morris had insisted that Alex was ‘simply a guest’, he’d been doing a lot of his research covertly under the guise of needing the internet for his supplied gaming consoles. Luckily no one at the labs seemed to know anything about gaming because no one had yet questioned him on why he needed a computer at all.  
Tonight he’d fallen down a rabbit hole involving Joey’s clone series. Since meeting the teen he’d wanted to find out more about him. He wanted to know everything about every series, but he figured the G series – as Joey and Damien had called it – was a good place to start.  
He wasn’t all that far into learning about where each of them had gone before a notification appeared on his screen. In true Alex style, at first opportunity he’d hacked into the building’s surveillance system and set up his own additions. This happened to include some basic facial recognition software which he figured would come in handy if any of the clones were to show up unannounced.  
But the faces that had set off his alarm were different. Yet still very familiar.  
He quickly shut the program down, checked that he had his pass, and hightailed it to the central elevators. There was every chance that it wasn’t actually who he thought it was, but… what were the odds?  
The elevator reached the lobby and he nearly took out a janitor in his rush to get out. He spotted them just as the night receptionist was telling them to wait aside.  
“Excuse me,” he quickly wiped his hands on his pants to rid them of nervous sweat, “are you Mr and Mrs Hanson?”  
“We are,” Walker was already looking him up and down.  
Alex’s hand shot out.  
“It’s so good to meet you, I’m a huge fan. I mean not of your work I don’t know what that is or was but I’ve been following Taylor’s work since nearly the beginning so I saw you both when you would tour with them when they were younger so that’s how I recognized you on the screens-“  
Walker shook his hand with an amused glint in his eye before reaching across to take hold of his pass.  
“Alexander Bell,” he raised a brow, “have you met Taylor?”  
“Yeah, yeah I have. Sorry,” he realized he hadn’t introduced himself and it might have come off as rude.  
“Where are you from, Alex?” Walker asked him.  
“Until recently, Miami,” his hands went back into his pockets before he quickly took them out again to shake Diana’s hand too.  
“What was your mother’s name?” she asked him, just in time for his nerves to start kicking in.  
“Judy,” he folded his arms instead, “Judith. Judith Bell. I think.”  
“Judith Bacco,” Diana shared a glance with her husband.  
“Greek?” he gave Alex a questioning look.  
“Did you know my Mom?” he looked between them, unsure if he were excited at the prospect or terrified.  
“Briefly,” Diana didn’t want to get his hopes up, “I remember she was a foreign student looking to make some extra money to cover her schooling.”  
“She never…” Alex’s mind was already spinning, “I mean I always thought I was adopted, she never told me anything about any of this and we didn’t look anything alike.”  
“Probably for the best,” Walker easily dismissed.  
“Where is she now?” Diana asked, more of an attempt to put him at ease.  
Alex was about to reply when they heard footsteps from behind him. A sleepy Dr Morris had arrived in the foyer.  
Alex quickly stepped aside, nearly bumping into a courier waiting at the desk in his haste.  
“Ivan,” Walker gave him a nod when he got close enough.  
“Walker,” the doctor didn’t look as confident as usual, but Alex wasn’t sure if it were Walker’s presence or just because he’d been woken up, “and…?”  
“Diana,” she introduced herself, folding her arms defensively.  
“Right. It’s good to see you again, Diana,” Morris mused to himself.  
Walker didn’t seem at all bothered by his smirk which already had Alex’s mind wandering.  
“Shall we?” Morris stepped back, indicating for them to follow the security guards he’d brought with him.  
“Not so fast,” Walker wasn’t moving, “we’ll need you to sign a legal document we’ve prepared for the occasion. I believe you were forwarded a copy last night for you to read over.”  
“I was, though I wasn’t expecting you to arrive so soon,” Morris admitted with a clench of his teeth, “but I did skim it.”  
Walker turned to the courier who handed him a wooden clipboard. Alex took a moment to realize that he’d walked in with them, and then berated himself for not wondering why a courier would be there at 2am in the morning.  
Walker handed Morris the clipboard and Morris in turn pulled a pen from his coat pocket. He barely looked it over before signing in three places and handing it back.  
“I could file those for you,” Alex jumped in, having spent a short time in the legal department a few days earlier.  
“Thank you Alex, but these need to be held offsite,” Walker offered him a smile as he handed them back to the courier.  
The bearded man immediately left. Alex watched after him trying to understand why he looked a little familiar.  
“Mr Bell? It’s rather late,” he was snapped out of it by the doctor’s voice, “you should probably head to bed.”  
“Um, sure,” he looked to the Hansons.  
Walker gave him another smile as he stepped by, heading back for the elevator. He could tell that Morris was pointedly waiting for him to leave before following.

The first thing he did when he got back to the room was send a message to Taylor to tell him that his parents had arrived in Nevada. He debated mentioning the courier, but figured if Taylor wanted updates that he would contact him in the morning.  
He didn’t hear anything back.


	2. 1

“Just a little further, maybe three more steps.”  
Carey grit his teeth as his knuckles turned white. He had nearly made it to the end of the railing.  
“You were doing better than this yesterday. Hurry on, some of us want to eat,” the nurse teased.  
“It still hurts,” Carey shifted his weight to his right leg, which seemed to hurt less than the left somehow, “it’s been so long, why does it still hurt?!”  
“It’s all in your mind,” the nurse assured, “the bones have healed. Now it’s just a case of waking them up again and getting them to work.”  
“Pins and needles,” Carey closed his eyes and whispered to himself, “it’s just pins and needles.”  
“Now you’re getting it!”  
Carey took a deep breath before opening his eyes again and lifting his hands from the railing. He’d been able to stand for about a week already, it was only the walking part that was taking time to work on. Once he felt that he was balanced he transferred his weight to his left leg and managed to limp forward onto his right.  
“There we go!”  
“I have to be able to walk before I go home,” Carey shook his head, falling into a lean against the left railing, “I’m going to be useless if I don’t!”  
“You will,” the nurse assured, “you’re so close already.”  
“I don’t feel close,” he grumbled, “I feel like it’s going to take another month.”  
“Maybe it will.”  
“I can’t wait that long!”  
The nurse sighed to herself, aware that he was frustrated. He took the moment to brush hair out of his eyes before looking up apologetically.  
“Sorry.”  
“I’ve had worse. Now I’m sure the breaks themselves were more painful than this. Try taking two steps at once.”  
Carey wanted to dispute that, but he still couldn’t remember the attack. She had to be right. Surely the actual breaks had hurt more, and he’d managed to live through that…  
He balanced himself again and lifted his hands from the rail. He had to keep his eyes open in case of losing his balance altogether, but if he could take at least one step he should have been able to counter it.  
“Two steps,” the nurse encouraged, “and if you make it three, you’ll make it to me. Then we can have lunch. _Lunch_ , Mr Miller. Aren’t you hungry?”  
“Starving,” he agreed, focused on the floor.  
“So we’re in agreement. Let’s get this over with.”  
Carey mentally counted himself down, but failed to step forward on the zero. He rolled his eyes at himself before taking another deep but shaky breath and forcing himself to move.   
It felt like knives were stabbing at his calves but he managed to push through the final three steps and land with his hands on the walking frame the nurse was holding.  
“There’s a good boy,” she taunted.  
Usually he’d retort, but he was just so happy to have made it he choked a laugh instead.  
“Now let’s get you down to the cafeteria.”  
“I can make it if you want to go ahead,” Carey assured, turning himself to take a seat on the walker, “I just need a moment.”  
“If you’re sure?”  
“I’m sure.”  
“Same time tomorrow then,” she gave him a pat on the shoulder, “well done.”  
He offered a smile before watching her leave the room. There was no one else in the room so he took the time to close his eyes and try to relax a little.  
His body ached from the effort of holding himself up and he didn’t look forward to having to move again, yet he still debated a detour to his room to call Emma first. He hadn’t talked to her all day and it was making him antsy. But if he went for something to eat first he could talk to her longer…  
Sighing to himself he took another few seconds before pulling himself back to his feet. He needed to spend as much time vertical as possible or he was going to be absolutely useless back in LA when it was time to go home.

Taylor could hear them coming, but it was too dark to see. The pounding of their boots on the concrete was unmistakable. They were nearly on him when he suddenly woke in a cold sweat.  
“Are you okay?” Emma was leaning over him, a hand on his shoulder.  
Taylor froze as he struggled to get his breath back.  
“You were having a nightmare,” Emma looked concerned.  
“Yeah,” his voice broke and he quickly cleared his throat, “yeah, I’m fine. What time is it?”  
He sat himself up on the couch, realizing he must have fallen asleep in front of the television. The movie he’d had on in the background while working had long finished and his iPad had fallen to the floor.  
“It’s nearly four,” Emma offered, her hand going to her baby bump.  
“Are you okay?” Taylor frowned as soon as he noticed.  
“Fine.”  
He hesitated before wiping the sweat from his forehead and shifting over to give her room to sit. She wasn’t going to until he made a point of patting the cushion.  
“Sorry if I scared you,” he apologized as she took a seat.  
“Care has nightmares too,” Emma revealed, “or he did before the attack. Not so much after.”  
“So you’re saying I need a head injury to be rid of them?” Taylor mused.  
“Or just amnesia,” Emma smirked, “but I wouldn’t wish that on anyone.”  
“Maybe I would,” Taylor looked down as he awkwardly began to pick at his nails.  
There was an awkward moment of silence where they could hear their kids playing out in the yard.  
“Does Carey remember Russia?” he thought to ask, “did he tell you anything about our time there?”  
“I don’t think he had so much to tell,” she shrugged, “he did say he spent a lot of time locked in a small room on his own, and he could only talk to Mark through an air vent. Oh and he hates potatoes now and I mean _hates_ potatoes. I actually have to hide them now because he says he can smell them.”  
“I understand that,” Taylor shot her a glance.  
“I guess you would.”  
“Did he tell you anything else?” Taylor rubbed his lap pacifyingly.  
“Is there something you want to talk about?” Emma offered outright, “did you not tell Natalie everything?”  
“Like Carey, there wasn’t all that much to tell,” Taylor admitted, “but she found bruises on me so…”  
“Carey had them too,” Emma agreed, “but I think he was planning to elaborate before Russo came for him.”  
Taylor paused again, taking that to mean that Carey hadn’t actually told her everything. He didn’t want to be the one to do it, despite Carey’s lost memories. He was already convinced that Carey was better off without them.  
“Did something else happen to you there?” Emma made him start when she spoke again.  
“Tay?”  
They both looked up as Natalie appeared, Taylor mentally thanking her timing.  
“Sorry I didn’t realize you were-“  
“It’s fine,” Emma quickly assured.  
“What’s wrong?” Taylor cleared his throat again.  
“Nothing, I just need some help in the kitchen and the kids are coincidentally MIA.”  
“Sorry,” Taylor smirked to himself, directing his apology at Emma, “we can pick this up later?”  
“Sure,” Emma didn’t believe it for a moment as Taylor stood to follow his wife.  
She watched him leave before groaning internally as the baby kicked. It was getting more and more frequent and she was beyond ready to have this child out already.

Carey had just made it back to his room and taken a seat on the bed when there was a knock at his door. His eyes found Alex not looking even half as timid as he had the first time he’d knocked on Carey’s door.  
“You got a moment?” he asked, looking him over.  
“Yeah, I was just about to call Emma,” Carey eyed the phone, “but it’s not too late yet.”  
“I saw you went for an early dinner,” Alex came in and closed the door behind him, “so figured it would be something like that.”  
“What’s up?” Carey hadn’t seen him in a few days now.  
“A few things,” Alex came to sit on the walking frame in front of him, “first, there’s still no sign of Mark. I know you were hoping I’d find him the other day.”  
“How could he just disappear like that?” Carey was confused, “without Russo’s help he shouldn’t have been able to get the chip out.”  
“We don’t know what he’s been doing so we don’t know who he’s met,” Alex shrugged, “but Jesse did the same thing once, I remember Damien saying.”  
“When?” Carey frowned.  
“Uh… it was when he first showed me the tracking app so it had to be one of the times he was breaking into the labs,” Alex tried to remember, “he told me Jesse put the chip in a dog as a decoy so that it would still track and they wouldn’t realize he had it out.”  
Carey smirked at that.  
“Sounds like Jesse.”  
“Yeah,” Alex’s eyes fell, “anyway… so the last place I have Mark is down on the Mexican border like I said but I haven’t found any documentation saying that he’s crossed over so unless he’s faked a passport he should still be in the States.”  
“I wouldn’t put it past him but I don’t think he was ever a fan of Mexican food,” Carey thought aloud.  
“Would he go there if he were being chased?” Alex suggested.  
“I don’t know,” Carey shook his head, “I might have known once, but I don’t now. This isn’t just Mark going off in a huff this is bigger than anything we’ve ever…”  
He trailed off, not knowing how to say it.   
“He has to turn up eventually,” Alex tried to reassure him, “I mean finding the rest of us was a kind of needle-in-a-haystack scenario so… I have faith.”  
“Thanks,” Carey shifted himself on the bed so that he could bring his legs up.  
Alex watched him struggle, knowing that he didn’t want help.  
“Last time I spoke to the nurses they said you wanted to go home this week.”  
“Right.”  
“Are you sure that’s a good idea? You don’t seem to be, I don’t know, strong enough yet?” Alex was worried.  
“I’m getting there, and I’ll be fine once I’m home,” Carey insisted, massaging his left leg, “but I can’t leave it any later. I am not missing this birth. Not after last time.”  
“I can talk to Morris about the transfer if you want?” Alex suggested, “maybe set a date?”  
“No later than Thursday,” Carey insisted.  
“Then I’ll try and organise it for Thursday,” Alex confirmed.  
They sat in silence for a moment, the hum of the light above the bed taking over. But it didn’t take long for Carey to notice Alex’s leg bouncing nervously.  
“What is it?” he demanded right away.  
“There’s someone here that wants to meet you,” Alex figured the sooner it was out the better, “but I don’t know how you’d feel about it and they asked me a couple of days back and I haven’t really had the nerve to say anything before now but if you’re leaving-“  
“What do you mean?” Carey frowned again, “I’ve met Keandre. They’re not hiding a dozen other clones in the back are they?”  
“Not that I know of, they’re all out in the wild,” Alex took the distraction, “and I haven’t seen Keandre since we got here.”  
“Why not?” Carey was surprised.  
“He’s just hard to talk to and I don’t want to upset him,” Alex admitted, “I’m not actually sure where he is.”  
“Maybe they let him go and didn’t tell you?” Carey suggested.  
“No his tracer says he’s here. Somewhere.”  
“So what are you talking about? Or who, rather?” Carey tried to get back on track.  
“Di Hanson is here,” Alex blurted, “she came in with her husband like eight months ago and like he went out on mission work but she stayed here and I’m not sure when she’s leaving but-“  
“Di Hanson is here?” Carey jumped on before he could ramble too far, “Di Hanson is here and you didn’t tell me?”  
“I wasn’t sure you wanted to know,” Alex looked sheepish, “but she knows you’re here and… yeah. She wants to meet you, if you’re okay with it.”


	3. 2

Carey knew that Emma would have long been waiting for his call now, but he was suddenly too nervous. He’d made a quick trip to the bathroom and used his reflection in the chrome showerhead to make sure his hair looked okay but he couldn’t do anything about his facial hair and he didn’t have access to deodorant.  
He was about to meet his birth mother. Not only had he spent the majority of his life not even knowing he was adopted, but even once he’d found out the truth he’d thought it had been too late.  
But now she was _here_ , and so was he.  
He took a deep breath, resisting the urge to go back to the bathroom for another look. It would take too long and she might show at any minute. He was just trying to work out exactly how long it would take before a shadow caught his eye and he looked up to see someone pass his window. A knock on the door soon followed and Carey quickly crossed his legs on the bed after making sure the room’s chair was in prime position.  
“Come in!” he called, waiting with bated breath.  
The door opened and a nervous smile entered.   
“Carey Miller?” she asked.  
“Mrs Hanson,” he gave her a nod.  
She paused by the door before he indicated the chair.  
“Take a seat,” he offered, already feeling awkward at the formality.  
She took a second to decide to close the door behind her before making her way over. Carey found himself sizing her up. She was shorter than he thought she’d be and her hair was so very long.  
The moment she looked up he diverted his eyes before giving in and sharing a stare.  
Diana couldn’t believe how much he looked like Taylor.  
“I don’t know what to say,” he broke the silence.  
“Tell me about yourself,” Diana offered, leaning forward slightly, “tell me how you grew up.”  
“I was under the impression that you knew a lot already,” he looked to the window behind her.  
“We lost touch with Linda not long after you…” Diana trailed off, her expression falling a little.  
She took a moment to gather herself before looking up again.  
“We were aware she had some troubles. We hoped you boys would help her.”  
“We weren’t much help,” Carey smirked incredulously, “she died when we were like twelve, and our stepfather was such a dick I emancipated myself as soon as I could.”  
“I’m sure those twelve years were the best of her life.”  
That caught Carey off guard. Diana’s gaze remained kind and sympathetic, and he both felt bad for the vulgarity and a little like she was treating him as a test subject.  
“You’re married,” she changed the subject a little, “recently?”  
“Yeah, just over a year,” Carey confirmed, “we eloped to Hawaii.”  
“That sounds nice.”  
“It was,” he started to fidget with his wedding ring, “I need to get back to her as soon as I can.”  
“I’m sure it won’t be long.”  
“You can never tell with this place. We rarely get straight answers out of them.”  
“I’ll see what I can do to help that.”  
Carey held back an unfavorable retort.  
“You don’t have to,” he said instead, “I mean I’m not expecting anything from you. You’re not-“  
He stopped before he could say she wasn’t his Mom, worried that she’d take offense.   
“You’re not under any obligation. This whole situation is still very new for all of us.”  
“Yet there are a few of us for whom it’s been more than thirty-five years in the making,” Diana reminded him.  
Caught off guard again, he forgot what he was going to say next.  
“Sorry,” he hadn’t thought of it that way, “it’s just been us for a long time. I don’t want to make excuses, but-“  
“You took care of your brother when your father went off the rails, didn’t you?” she interrupted, “the snippets I’ve heard from my sons are all I have, and even those are through my husband.”  
“Walker?” Carey waited for her nod, “I tried to, but Mark and I are very, very different people.”  
He shook his head.  
“Maybe that makes more sense now.”  
“Who birthed you should have had no consequence on the person or people you became,” Diana corrected softly, “one of the first aspects of these experiments focused on nature versus nurture. I can see already that despite many similarities between you and my son, your upbringing was vastly different to his and it definitely shows.”  
“Is that a good thing or a bad thing?” Carey frowned.  
“That’s for you to decide.”  
Carey internally rolled his eyes. As if he didn’t get enough cryptic answers from these people already. He’d blindly forgotten that technically she was one of them.  
“I hope I can talk to you in a less formal setting, maybe once you’ve healed,” she sat forward as if to stand up.  
“Maybe,” Carey figured he probably couldn’t avoid her at this point – especially if Walker really was going to be their ‘liaison’.  
It wasn’t that he didn’t want to see her again, but this hadn’t exactly been the meeting he’d envisioned either. He wanted to get to know her outside of what felt like a prison.  
“I’ll take it,” she smiled again before standing.  
“Um, thank you for coming,” he quickly held out a hand.  
He felt awkward the moment he’d done it, and wondered if a hug would have been a better idea. But he wasn’t sure he was comfortable with that yet so… maybe she wouldn’t be either.  
“It was nice to meet you,” she responded well, taking his hand in hers.  
She shook it slowly and purposefully, with a look in her eye that reminded him of Taylor. But before he could say anything she made her way to the door. She didn’t look back.  
He waited until she’d passed by the window and he couldn’t hear her footsteps any longer before quickly rubbing his face and reaching for the phone. He couldn’t wait to tell Emma.

Zac paused in the doorway for a moment to listen in silence before quickly ducking into the sound booth and closing the door behind him.  
“Coast is clear, for now,” he kept his voice down.  
“This doesn’t feel great,” Isaac admitted, “I mean sneaking around behind his back like this? I feel like it’s just asking for trouble.”  
“We don’t have a choice right now,” Zac insisted, “did you hear back from the agency?”  
“They can put us on the bill as soon as we’re ready, we just have to say the word,” Isaac shrugged, “but in order to do that we need Taylor’s go-ahead.”  
“I was afraid of that,” Zac grit his teeth, not having moved from the door.  
“Of what?” Isaac smirked, “of Taylor being involved in our next tour? Because I have some bad news for you in that case-“  
“No, that they’re ready,” Zac corrected, “because _I’m_ ready, and I know that you’re ready, and the band’s ready, and we definitely need the revenue if we want these other projects to go ahead.”  
“What are you saying?” Isaac frowned, swivelling in the chair slightly.  
Zac sighed to himself, not even sure.  
“I want this to happen, and soon. Sooner than our soon,” he relented, “and if Taylor has reservations I totally understand them, but we need to get our lives back on track and just sitting on this is not the way to do that.”  
“I agree,” Isaac shrugged.  
“You do?”   
“Of course. We can’t hide in the studio forever, it’s only half of the job. When we signed up for this we signed up for the whole shebang.”  
“So how do we do this?” Zac was thinking out loud.  
“The best thing I can think of, is to call Morris,” Isaac admitted.  
“What for?” Zac frowned.  
“I think we should call him and block out some dates,” Isaac explained, “say from this date to this date, don’t come a-knocking. Leave Taylor and myself alone. We have to work, we have to make a living, and we don’t want Dad suddenly showing up in LA or wherever we are saying Morris needs a blood sample or something else.”  
“Speaking of Dad,” Zac diverted, “though I entirely agree with you, isn’t he supposed to be the one organizing this kind of thing for us now? I mean where is he?”  
“Nevada with Mom, you know that,” Isaac rubbed his chin.  
“It’s been almost a year.”  
“You don’t think I know that?”  
Before Zac could retort, someone tried to open the door from behind him. After nearly jumping out of his skin he quickly stepped aside.  
“Time’s up,” he muttered as Taylor poked his beanie-covered head through.  
“What’s going on?” he looked between them suspiciously before settling on Isaac, “why are you here so early?”  
Isaac looked to Zac, expecting him to explain. It had been his idea after all. The silence only made Taylor more suspicious.  
“Sit down, we need to talk,” Zac bit the bullet.

“How is everybody’s favorite patient?” Morris entered the room with a typical doctor smile.  
“Impatient,” the nurse responded before Carey could.  
He rolled his eyes as he replaced the bedsheets over his legs.  
“Impatient?” Morris feigned curiosity.  
“I want to go home,” Carey insisted, “the baby’s due in two weeks and I can’t miss this one.”  
“Oh yes, of course. Rest assured we’re keeping a close eye on your wife’s progress,” Morris made his way to the side of the bed.  
“That’s not as reassuring as it sounds,” Carey eyed the nurse as she finished packing up and left the room.  
Morris waited until the door closed behind her.  
“What is it?” Carey demanded right away, “do you want something else?”  
“Rest assured we have all that we need from you for now,” Morris blew off, “as promised you were merely here for rehabilitation. Alexander tells me that you wish to leave by Thursday.”  
“At the latest, if I can,” Carey confirmed.  
“We can organize a van to take you home with all the equipment you need as early as Wednesday,” Morris seemed to think out loud, “it will be approximately an eight hour drive. Or we could charter a flight without the equipment and send it on later.”  
“I get to keep all this?” Carey indicated his walker and his wheelchair.  
“As long as you need to,” Morris gave a nod, “we’ll take them back when you no longer need them.”  
“Cool.”  
“So what would you prefer?”  
Carey bit his lip as he thought about it. The prospect of actually seeing Emma and Ellie within two days made it hard to think.  
“The van would be easier right?” he asked.  
“You would not have to wait for your things,” Morris pointed out.  
“Then I’ll do that,” Carey decided, “Wednesday right?”  
“I’ll organize the van to leave at 8am, and we will need you ready by 7am.”  
“There’s not much to do to be ready,” Carey smirked.  
“Making sure you can walk further than a few feet would be a start,” Morris mused before abruptly turning to leave, “I’ll speak with you again before you leave. Goodnight Mr Miller.”  
Carey waited until he was gone before quickly reaching for the phone again. He didn’t bother checking the time difference before dialling Emma’s number. The moment she answered a grin crossed his face.  
“Honey I’m coming home,” he couldn’t help himself.


	4. 3

“Ready to do this?” Taylor sighed after he’d finished packing the car.  
“As I’ll ever be,” Emma agreed, “I still can’t believe you’re doing this.”  
“Well we can’t let you fly and I wasn’t about to let you take the Greyhound,” he smirked.  
Emma didn’t reply before leaning into the back to fix Ellie’s car seat. Taylor’s younger kids had gathered to see them off and Natalie was standing by apprehensively. They had a long way to go and she didn’t like that they’d be out there on their own.  
“Make sure you pull over a lot,” she insisted when he came to say goodbye to her, “drink lots of coffee, and if you feel tired-“  
“I’ve got this. This isn’t my first cross-country drive,” he assured, pulling her in for a hug.  
“You’re not usually the one driving!”  
“How long will you be gone?” Viggo looked up as Taylor kissed Natalie before pulling away.  
“Just a couple of days, I’m just dropping your Aunt off and flying back. Come get me from the airport?”  
“Okay.”  
Taylor leant down to hug him too before lifting Willa into his arms and planting a kiss on her cheek. Emma had finished checking on Ellie and the sight made her blush a little. She was impatient to see Carey do the same with Ellie.  
It was only two more days. If she could handle him being gone a month, she could handle two days, she reminded herself.  
Taylor set his daughter back on the ground before waving at the older kids still on the porch and heading for the driver’s side of the rental car. Seeing her cue, Emma waved as well and got in too. Taylor made sure his first cup of coffee was set in the holder before taking one last look back and starting to head down the driveway. They were barely out of the suburb when Emma spoke up.  
“I didn’t want to say anything where the kids might hear…” she began, making him glance across at her, “but Care met your Mom the other day.”  
“He what?” Taylor distractedly drifted into the next lane – thankfully empty.  
Emma had grabbed onto the dashboard in fright until he’d righted himself.  
“Holy shit,” she said under her breath as she recovered.  
“Sorry. Are you okay?”  
“I will be. I hope,” she was already regretting not taking the bus.  
“Sorry. What did you say about my Mom?”  
“Care said he met her the other day,” Emma repeated, “she was there and she wanted to.”  
Taylor made sure he stayed focused on the road this time, already tempted to pull over.  
“Nothing major happened. She asked about how he grew up, and he said it only lasted like ten minutes if that.”  
“I’m surprised she’s still there,” Taylor admitted, “I mean we haven’t heard any different but… we haven’t heard much from them overall.”  
“You don’t hear from your parents?” Emma was surprised.  
“I think the others do,” he considered, “but I don’t personally have any interest.”  
“Your reaction tells me otherwise.”  
Taylor shot her a glance, but returned his eyes to the road. He shook his head.  
“Look, we’ve got a long time on the road. We’re not going to get there before Wednesday night-“  
“So consider me your therapist for the next two days,” Emma mused, shifting in her seat to make herself more comfortable, “what’s on your mind, Mr Hanson?”  
Taylor shot her another glance before inwardly groaning to himself.

“So where are we gonna drop?”  
“What about West? No one goes out West.”  
“What if no one goes out West for a reason? There might not be anything out there!”  
“Only one way to find out.”  
“Need I remind you the idea is to also not die in the process.”  
“It’s not like we’ll be far outside the circle. Look where I’m marking.”  
“No one’s gonna go out that far.”  
“And that’s a good thing. We can gear up before anyone gets the jump on us.”  
“This countdown takes forever sometimes.”  
“There’s a lot of people playing, holy shit look at the hills!”  
“Suddenly West looks better.”  
“Okay. Yes this plane is definitely full. Get ready to drop on my count.”  
“Wait when did you take lead?”  
“Do you want to count us in?”  
“I might.”  
“Aim for the marker!”  
“I’m not an idiot! But man there’s still a lot of people on this plane. Wait where did you put the-“  
“3 2 1 go!”  
“Shit.”  
“You can count down next time, we nearly landed in the water.”  
“Sorry. I’ll pay attention next time.”  
“I’ll meet you at that group of four buildings we can take two each and get through faster.”  
“Have I ever mentioned how weird this is? To hear your voice coming through this?”  
“Yes and I’ve said the same exact thing. Are you down yet?”  
“Just landed. Heading into the long building. There are rifles here if you need them.”  
“Got some already. Do you need a backpack?”  
“Maybe. Which building are you in?”  
“Uh… look to your left.”  
“Oh I see you. I’ll be there once I’m done here.”  
“I see a car outside, do we want to take that?”  
“Hey Zac, where’s-?”  
Zac jolted as Isaac entered the room, in time for him to stop in his tracks.  
“Yeah we’re going to want the car,” Zac quickly said into his headset, “what are you doing here? I thought you went home an hour ago!”  
“Working. I work here too, remember?” Isaac scorned, “what are you playing?”  
“PUBG, and we’re running out of time so-“  
“Okay, I know you’ve done this to Taylor before, but I don’t even _look_ like Alex,” Isaac insisted, “so I need these things in English.”  
“Playerunknown’s Battlegrounds, Ike I can’t pause it!”  
“Fine. I’ll look for it myself,” Isaac waved him off before Zac quickly replaced his headset.  
“Never mind, I’m dead.”  
“What? How?! I was gone for five seconds!”  
“I got ambushed, but I don’t think they’ve worked out I wasn’t alone yet.”  
“Oh _shit_ ,” Zac struggled to swap weapons in time to attack the player that had entered the room.   
Three seconds later he was dead also.  
“That was a quick game,” he grunted.  
“I still think we try West again next time.”  
“Give me a second to yell at my brother and we can gear up again.”  
“Sure.”  
“Why don’t you go home and look for whatever it is in the morning?” Zac pulled his headset off again.  
“Because I need it for the morning,” Isaac was bent over the piano stool and reaching for something on the floor.  
Zac paused to wait until he could actually see his face again. When Isaac stood he had a business card between his fingers and he quickly put it in his pocket.  
“What is that?” Zac frowned, “or who is that?”  
“Just a card from the local tire shop but I wrote Dad’s contact number on the back of it,” Isaac admitted.  
“Dad? You’re gonna call him tomorrow?”  
“Might as well do it now,” Isaac shrugged, “get the ball rolling. Tell him we’re thinking about touring before the end of the year.”  
“When did you hear from him last?”  
“Ah… last week,” he had to think about it, “nothing had changed, but they’re still coming and going from the lab as much as they want.”  
Zac just shook his head dismally.  
“So no word about them coming home.”  
“Not yet. I’ll call you tomorrow once I’ve talked to him.”  
“Sure. Goodnight.”  
“Goodnight Zac,” Isaac saluted before leaving the room.  
Zac waited until he heard his brother actually leave before slipping the headset on again.  
“Hey Alex?”  
“Still here.”  
“I’ve got something to ask you, and… I hope you can answer it because it’s been haunting me for a long time now.”  
“I can try.”  
“When I got the call to come to Dallas, when the building was on fire,” he was still figuring out how to word it even as he started talking, “and I met you guys outside, there was a kid there. A teenager.”  
“Joey?”  
“Yeah. I haven’t told anyone about him but… I’m curious to know his story.”  
“I don’t know what I can tell you, you’re not cleared for anything.”  
“I know that.”  
“And this isn’t a secure line.”  
“Can we make it a secure line? I’m alone at the studio. Unless they’ve bugged it.”  
“Not to my knowledge. Is your cell phone nearby?”  
“It’s right here.”  
The moment Zac looked to double check, it started to ring. He removed his headset, made sure to unplug it, and answered the phone.  
“This is a secure line,” Alex’s voice came through, “what do you want to know?”  
“They didn’t stop making clones, did they?” Zac came out with it, “that kid was the spitting image of my brother – and you – and he was like fourteen.”  
“They didn’t stop after us, no. But again I don’t know how much I can tell you.”  
“How many are out there?”  
“I can’t tell you that.”  
“Okay, how old are these other clones? What kind of age range are we talking about?”  
“I’m not sure if I can tell you that either, but Joey’s one of the youngest. They stopped after him.”  
“Where is he? What happened to him after Dallas?”  
There was a pause on the line as Alex double checked the security of the line.  
“They were planning to bring us all here to Nevada, but the Russian military showed up-“  
“Oh no way.”  
“-and they took him. We couldn’t do anything we were incapacitated at the time.”  
“Why? Was it the same reason they took Tay?”  
“We don’t know. They haven’t found them yet and none of the Russians have surfaced again. We think they might have what they wanted to begin with; a group to compare.”  
“So there’s more fourteen year old Tays out there?”  
“Not anymore.”  
Zac blanched at that, quickly putting the pieces together.  
“Okay.”  
“Not to be a downer or sound like I don’t want to talk or anything, but maybe we should get back to the game?”  
“Sure,” Zac had entirely lost track of what else he’d wanted to ask anyway, “West, right?”  
“We might as well try again while we’re actually focused. I’m gonna change my clothes first, I’m working up to affording that trench coat.”  
“What a waste.”  
“It’s aesthetics, Zac! What else are we even in this for?”

Barely a few hours in Carey had regretted his decision to take the van. The ride was bumpy and boring, despite the van being a lot nicer than Carey was used to. He had nothing to keep himself occupied besides his cell phone and he’d forgotten to charge it before he left the site. He needed to save the battery so that he could call Emma when he was nearly home, so he purposely kept it in his back pocket where it would take too much effort to reach with the way he was sitting.  
He didn’t bother trying to remember the directions. Most of the surrounding desert all looked the same and he doubted very much that even if he did take note of distance travelled he wouldn’t be able to pinpoint it on a map. They’d kept the location of the Nevada lab on a need to know basis, presumably after what had happened to the one in Dallas.  
As far as he knew the repairs to Dallas were nearing completion so it probably wouldn’t be long before it became their base of operations again.  
But until they were called up again for whatever new reason Morris could come up with, Carey was going to relish his time with Emma and Ellie and make sure he was there for the birth of this baby. He was still trying to work out how to convince Emma to have a homebirth, and decided that would take up some of his time in the van. He was due home the night before her so he had plenty of time to plan something elaborate if need be.  
Maybe a few dozen roses waiting inside the door would be a start…


	5. 4

“You two are a lot more alike than either of you want to be.”  
Taylor looked across at where Emma was avoiding eye contact as she finished packing her bathroom bag.  
“What do you mean?” he frowned.  
“I know you don’t like Carey, I can tell,” she insisted, “and you can probably guess that he doesn’t like you all that much. Or he didn’t before the attack. But he shares a lot more traits with you than he does with Mark.”  
Taylor internally rolled his eyes as he went to double check that nothing had been left in the motel bathroom.  
“I can tell even from this limited interaction we’ve had. Don’t think I didn’t notice you completely avoiding me in Tulsa.”  
“I wasn’t avoiding you,” Taylor lied, collecting his bags from the bed.  
“Then what would you call it?” she was honestly curious.  
“I don’t know,” Taylor shrugged, the one avoiding eye contact now, “I thought I was giving you space. It had to be weird for you.”  
“Need I remind you that I’m used to seeing my husband’s face on other people?” she smirked, finally catching his gaze, “this isn’t my first rodeo. Mark wasn’t the only clone I’d ever tangled with.”  
“You knew Jesse. Before,” Taylor picked up on.  
“And Colin. So maybe it would be weird for Natalie but personally? I’m well beyond the weird part.”  
“Duly noted,” Taylor was waiting for her to finish up.  
Emma zipped up the bag and looked up at him with a sigh.  
“You’re both incredibly stubborn,” she was blunt.  
“That’s not a surprise,” he shrugged, “but from what I hear so is Mark.”  
“Mark has made enough mistakes in his life that he’s actually pretty easy to compromise with these days,” Emma considered, “but Carey? Nope. And I’m seeing a pattern with you.”  
“You barely know me.”  
“That’s why I said ‘limited interaction’, keep up.”  
“We really need to leave or we’re not going to make it by midnight,” Taylor was obviously uncomfortable that she was between he and the door.  
“Diverting the subject, something else that Carey is good at. You can ask Mark that.”  
“I don’t think I’ll be asking Mark anything anytime soon.”  
“Contempt for the other Miller. Something else you have in common.”  
“ _Please_ can we leave?”  
Emma looked him up and down with a smirk before collecting the last of her things (besides Ellie) and turning to the door.  
“Begging me for something is another thing entirely,” she said under her breath, knowing he would hear.  
Taylor felt his face flush red, knowing exactly what she had meant by the way she had said it. He was not looking forward to the next fourteen hours in the rental car.

“Isaac, how are you?”  
“Good how are you?” was his automatic response, and he immediately felt odd at the formality.  
“Good. What can I help you with?”  
“Ah… funny you should ask, I did actually call for a favor.”  
“From me or from Dr Morris?”  
Isaac hesitated, gritting his teeth. He still wasn’t sure if this were a good idea but they didn’t seem to have many other options.  
“Morris, really. But yourself as well. We want to tour again and we need to have some kind of reassurance that we can do that without… interruption I guess? So Zac and I were talking and we brought Tay into it the other day and we figured the best way to ensure that would happen would be to go through you.”  
“Do you have some dates in mind?”  
“Not yet we wanted to check with you guys first to see if you could maybe give us something to work with or-“  
“If you book in some dates I will take them to Dr Morris and insist he keep those dates clear for you and your brothers. I think if you allow the Doctor to take lead on when you may and may not tour you may not like the times you’re eventually cleared for.”  
“That’s kinda what we were afraid of.”  
“So go ahead and start booking and I’ll deal with it on this end.”  
“Thanks Dad, I’ll keep you updated. Hey is Mom around?”  
“Not right now, but I can ask her to call you later today if you’d like?”  
“No that’s fine, I can try again later. How is she doing?”  
“Fine. We hope to be back in Tulsa in the next month or so.”  
“Really? You’re coming back here?”  
“We have no reason not to. Once everything is done here I can quite happily work from home. Closer to you boys.”  
“That’s a relief,” wasn’t a lie, “any idea when that will happen for sure? Or are you just guessing the month?”  
“I don’t know for sure, no. But I’ll call you when I know.”  
“Thanks. Thanks again, Dad.”  
“You’re welcome. We’ll talk soon.”  
Once Isaac ended the call he stopped to take a deep breath before dialling Zac’s number. When it went through to voicemail he couldn’t help but roll his eyes.  
“Zac it’s me. When you’re done playing with Alex give me a call. Dad says we should go ahead and book the tour.”  
He hung up before groaning to himself. Chances were good his brother would never even get that voicemail.

“Are you sure you’re going to make it? Maybe you should stop for the night just out of town?” Carey’s worry was showing in his voice.  
“We’ll be fine,” Emma insisted, “we’ve done well so far and Tay can sleep on the plane home.”  
“I’ll make that judgement when you get here, if you keep driving he’ll have to stay the night and sleep it off.”  
“We’ll see.”  
“Everything okay there?” Carey frowned, catching an edge to her tone.  
“Everything’s fine. Can’t wait to actually see you!”  
“Same here,” a smile grew on his face, “be careful. Make sure he pulls over if he gets too tired.”  
“Stop worrying. We’ve got this.”  
“I’ll worry until the three of you are back in my arms and not a moment less.”  
“Three?”  
“You know what I mean.”  
“For a moment I was guessing Taylor but…”  
“Very funny.”  
“Looks like he’s finished filling the tank. I’ll talk to you later!”  
“I’ll see you soon. Love you.”  
“Love you bye.”  
Carey sighed as the call ended, impatient for her to be home already. He was tired of only talking to her over the phone. He needed her and Ellie to actually be there.  
He knew they hadn’t left any viable food in the fridge so his next move was to order some takeout through his phone. 

Knowing that Emma and Taylor wouldn’t make it until at least the early hours of the morning – if they decided not to pull over and stay somewhere for the night which he’d still been texting to tell her they should – he retired to bed somewhat early so that he could potentially stay up with his wife when she finally did get there. It was awkward at first as he worked out where to put his equipment so that he could get up again easily enough and in the end he opted to keep the wheelchair out in the living area with the walking frame just inside the bedroom door and only a walking cane by the bed. He’d been practising walking with just the cane in his spare time and while he still had trouble keeping all of his weight on his legs it was certainly a lot easier to manoeuvre with.  
It took longer than he’d hoped but he eventually found sleep. It was nearing midnight when his eyes opened again to an incessant beeping. Quickly reaching over to turn off the alarm clock which he outwardly cursed himself for setting, it took him a few disoriented moments to work out that it wasn’t the alarm clock at all.  
It was the home security system, coming through his phone.  
He grabbed it and checked the screen, selecting one of the outside camera views. He could see the dark silhouette of a man standing beside the garage door but he didn’t appear to be trying to break in – he was looking back down the driveway. He quickly checked the living room camera, finding nothing, before the view on the front hall camera made his heart nearly stop.  
Three large shadows, at least two of them holding weapons. He recognized them instantly.  
“Not again.”  
He threw the covers off and fell to his knees beside the bed. He fumbled under the bedside table until he found the dagger he kept hidden there (without Emma’s knowledge) before slipping the phone into his back pocket and grabbing the walking cane which he used to help himself get to the walk-in closet. He only had time to hide and hope that he could stave them off long enough for help to arrive.   
He could already see a small amount of light bouncing off the bedroom walls as he slowly and quietly closed the door on himself. Once he could set the walking cane aside he pulled out his cell phone again and quickly dialled the line Alex had given him before putting the phone on mute.  
The sound of the heavy boots in his room brought with them flashes of lost memories.   
“Он еще теплый,” he heard one of them say, immediately praying that they couldn’t hear his heart about to beat out of his chest.  
“Он здесь.”  
They opened the other side of the closet first, but that didn’t mean he was any more prepared when the light shone in his eyes. The moment he saw a hand reach for him he brought the dagger up.  
“Блядь!”  
Carey heard them curse as the first intruder backed off, but he hadn’t been sure he’d even hit them. In the process he’d lost his footing and fallen to a knee in the doorway which made it easier for the other two to grab his legs.  
“NO!” he felt them drag him out as the first grabbed for the arm with the knife.  
Before he could attempt to fight them off, despite the likelihood of coming out on top being nil, he felt a needle go into his neck and immediately tensed. His priority turning to getting it out he dropped the dagger and grappled at his throat. The dart had only been small and he knew the dose would have been enough.  
“Alex?!” he barely got out before he felt himself being lifted from the floor.  
They roughly set him on the bed before one of them turned the bedroom light on. None of their faces looked familiar. Carey couldn’t feel a sedative taking hold but his limbs had already begun to stiffen all the same.   
“Поторопись,” the one at his legs scorned the one at the light, who pulled something black from his small backpack.  
He laid it out on the floor and Carey knew instinctively that it was a body bag. He began to panic that he’d been poisoned, despite not feeling sick. His legs had now gone numb however and he could feel it creeping higher up his body. The soldier who’d relieved him of the dagger kept determined weight over his chest making sure he definitely couldn’t do anything about it.  
Once the bag was ready the one at his feet let go of him and produced some zip ties. He was efficiently rolled onto his back. They reached for his hands when…  
“Подождите!” one ordered, causing them both to freeze.  
By this point Carey couldn’t move, and not just out of fear. He’d been paralyzed.   
One of them took hold of his limp right hand, pulling it back to where they could inspect it. He could tell they had been distracted by his missing finger.  
“Он поврежден.”  
“Что теперь?”  
Carey couldn’t see anything while facing the other way, he could only wait for them. He thought he could hear one of them talking on a radio just outside the room and figured it was the third intruder. They seemed to be waiting for something. When he came back into the room Carey heard him speak with purpose.  
“Вместо этого мы берем его брата.”  
The soldier dropped his hand and then moved to roll him onto his back again. Carey managed to look up as the man stared down at him before suddenly turning to leave the room.  
The others followed after packing their gear. He heard them actually leaving the house. They had left him alone, trapped inside his own body. The most he could move were his eyes and his mouth, but try as he might no sound above a gasp would escape his throat.  
He couldn’t reach his phone.


	6. 5

Alex fumbled for the pager that was incessantly beeping beside his bed and once he had it struggled to even read what was on the screen. When he finally made out what it said he grunted and pulled himself out of bed.  
As soon as he got to the computer he pulled up the tracking program and looked up Carey’s chip. He could see that he was home, but that the chart had spiked just before midnight and hadn’t calmed since. Having taken seconds to start the computer and get to this point, it wasn’t until a moment later that he got the notification of Carey having tried to call him.  
“Shit,” he cussed under his breath, pulling on his headset and immediately trying to call back.  
The call went unanswered. But he could see that Carey hadn’t moved, and that he was wide awake.  
Knowing that Taylor and Emma were en route he checked on Taylor’s chip. By this point they weren’t far away, and they were still on the move. So he called Taylor’s phone instead.  
“Alex?” Emma’s voice answered instead.  
“Hey you guys are on your way to your place, right?”  
“Yes… why?”  
“Uh. Something happened. Carey’s charts are all over the place, so if there’s a quicker way to get there… do it.”

It was around 1am when they finally made it, Taylor having taken a few liberties to get there sooner. As Emma was about to jump out of the car he reached across to grab her by the arm.  
“Maybe this isn’t a good idea, we don’t know what’s going on,” he cautioned.  
“I know something’s wrong, and that Care’s in there,” she was determined.  
“Maybe we should call the police? Remember those guys?”  
“You don’t know the cops around here,” Emma scorned before doing as she’d planned.  
Taylor watched her disappear into the shadows of the house before parking the car properly and debating what to do with Ellie. Emma hadn’t opened the garage so he couldn’t just drive in and safely leave her. In the end he only grabbed his keys, phone and wallet before going to fetch her sleeping form from the back seat.  
It didn’t take Emma long to find her husband.  
“Carey?!” she switched the light back on before rushing to his side, “what happened?! What’s going on?!”  
Carey’s arm had been slowly reaching for his cell phone, which had fallen beside him on the bed when he’d been moved there. Unable to do anything else yet he could only look back up at her.  
He needed to warn her in case they were still nearby.  
“Care?” she moved some hair from his face, “what is it? Can you hear me?”  
He purposely blinked his eyes, hoping that would be enough of a signal. She caught it.  
“What’s wrong?” her voice shook as she started to make sense of it, “can’t you move?”  
He grunted, but it was barely audible. Before anything else could happen they heard Taylor making his way inside.  
“Taylor?!” Emma called out in a panic.  
He had trouble working out where her voice had come from but he eventually found the bedroom.  
“What is it?” he half expected to find Carey dead.  
“He can’t move,” she was fretting, “Taylor he can’t move!”  
Taylor spotted a second bedroom nearby and quickly went to place Ellie down. She was stirring but not waking up just yet. Once she was down he rushed back to the room.  
“What do you mean?” he came to her side, seeing Carey sprawled out with only his eyes telling that he was even awake.  
“He can’t _move_ ,” she reiterated.  
“What the f-“ Taylor cut himself off and grabbed his phone.  
He called Alex back.  
“What’s happening?!” his worried voice came down the line.  
“He looks paralyzed,” Taylor’s other hand went to his hair, “Alex what happened here?!”  
“I don’t know but hold tight, I’m going to get Morris. Does he need an ambulance?”  
“I don’t know.”  
“Stay on the line!”

In minutes there was a knock on the door. Emma stayed with Carey while Taylor went to greet the men in white. At least one of them looked familiar to him so it was easier to trust that Morris and/or Alex had sent them.  
The first thing one of them did when they entered the room was take a blood sample from Carey’s arm. Emma watched them like a hawk the entire time, while Taylor stood back and subtly closed Ellie’s door before they could get any other ideas.  
The blood was used in a tester kit that had been sat on the bed beside Carey, but even as they worked around him he’d started to get more movement back in his arms.  
“It’s a form of anaesthetic, he would have been injected with it at some point overnight,” the man doing the testing informed Emma.  
“How?” she frowned before looking down at him again, “where’s your phone?”  
Carey’s eyes went to the side, and she immediately leant over him to retrieve it.  
“We need to call this in,” the second man insisted before stepping past Taylor.  
He debated following him back into the house, but decided he was better suited to watching over Emma and Ellie. Just in case.  
“It should wear off in the next few hours, but we may need to take him to a ward for observation,” the tester warned her.  
“He won’t want that,” she assured, “he’d be better off staying here.”  
“Are you sure?” Taylor frowned, despite not wanting to argue, “what if-“  
Emma audibly gasped when she found what she was looking for on Carey’s phone. The footage of the men in the hallway was confronting enough without having to watch any footage of the attack. Carey’s brow furrowed, unable to explain anything along with it.  
“Who are these people?” she thought aloud, prompting the man beside her to take the phone from her hands.  
He had a quick look before his brow rose.  
“I have an idea,” he admitted, “but I think your friend could tell us for sure.”  
Taylor looked confused as he held the phone up in his direction. But the moment he saw what had been captured the color drained from his face.  
“Who is it?” Emma demanded, seeing his reaction.  
Taylor didn’t want to tell her, so he hesitated.  
“Taylor?!” her outburst made him jump.  
“It’s the Russians,” his voice was low, “for sure. I’d recognize them anywhere.”  
“Your husband may be better off in a ward,” the man handed the phone back to her, “but we might just be forced to hole up here for now instead.”

Alex berated himself for his nerves as he knocked on the door to the doctor’s quarters. They weren’t far from his own and he hadn’t _formally_ been warned against waking him but he knew it probably wasn’t the best idea in general. But Morris did say if he ever needed anything…  
He was about to knock again when he heard Morris approach the door and slowly open it.  
“Yes, Mr Bell?”  
“Sorry to interrupt your sleep thing,” he was fretting, “but Carey’s tracking chart started going haywire like an hour ago and I tried to call him and he wasn’t answering so I called Taylor cos they were nearby and they went and found him-“  
“Alexander what have I told you about the tracer program?” the doctor’s eyes were barely open but he did not look amused.  
“That…” he took a moment to remember, “that we need to observe and not interfere?”  
“Right.”  
“But this was different! He was drugged! So I sent a team out-“  
“You did what?” the doctor’s brow rose, “you sent a team without authorization?”  
“Uh… technically I gave them authorization,” Alex was fidgeting now.  
“I think we may need to look into your privileges in the morning. You’ve taken many liberties I am not sure you were afforded.”  
“It was the _Russians_!” Alex was getting defiant now, “they tried to take him! They gave him something that paralyzed him so they could move him but then they just left him!”  
Morris had to pause at that, firstly to make sure he’d heard right.  
“You’re sure?”  
“I know,” Alex insisted.  
“Go back to bed, I’ll deal with this,” Morris made to close the door.  
“I’m not going back to bed!” Alex exclaimed as the door clicked.  
He grunted to himself and headed back for his room to see if anyone had called back yet.

“This is weird,” Taylor whispered to himself.  
He was standing in the dining area where an enlarged photo from the Millers’ wedding hung. Carey’s hair was much longer and he was obviously much older than Taylor had been, but it gave him flashbacks regardless.  
“Have you decided what you’re going to do?”  
One of the two men, introduced as Dr Finucane, approached him from the hall.  
“I need to get home,” Taylor insisted, thinking of his family first, “I’m just not sure if that’s the safest thing right now.”  
“If it’s any consolation they don’t appear to have hung around. But we can offer you a police escort to the airport.”  
“That sounds better,” Taylor breathed a sigh of relief.  
He thought about the first thing Finucane had said.  
“This doesn’t make sense,” he shook his head, looking back at the photo of Carey, “why would they just leave him here? They could have taken him easily.”  
“We don’t know, but we’re hoping to find out once Carey can tell us.”  
“How long will that be?”  
“Not before morning I’d wager. I’ll organize your escort.”  
“Thanks,” Taylor watched him leave the room.  
He waited to make sure the man wasn’t going toward Ellie’s room before opting to go and warn Emma that he’d be leaving soon.

“Hey.”  
Isaac looked up as Zac entered the office.  
“How are those dates looking?”  
“We have five out for consideration and we’ve had confirmation on two of those so I’m about to authorize another ten,” Isaac sounded tired, “have you heard from Tay yet?”  
“Not yet but if I were him I’d be sleeping the day away,” Zac set his drink down on Isaac’s table and took a seat.  
He sighed loudly. Isaac just stared at him, expecting him to say something.   
“What?” he demanded when nothing happened.  
“I know we’re not, but it feels like we’re rushing into this.”  
“This was your idea,” Isaac pointed out, “I just agreed with it.”  
“So did Tay.”  
“So…?”  
“I don’t know. I guess I’m just waiting for another thing to go wrong and delay the tour yet again.”  
“That’s usually my job. I’m the pessimist of this band, remember?”  
“I know. But we haven’t even attempted a proper tour since this whole thing with Tay started – and with you, I guess – so… unchartered territory maybe?”  
“I’m nervous too, you can say it,” Isaac sat back a little and tapped his pen on the desk.  
“And your nerves make sense too I mean not only do you have to worry about Tay disappearing but maybe you could someday as well.”  
“Thanks Zac. Thank you. That helps a lot.”  
“Sorry,” Zac smirked, “maybe I should just shut up.”  
They sat in awkward silence for a moment before both nearly jumping out of their skins when the office phone rang. Being the only two in the building this early Isaac reached for it.  
“I’ll let you get back to it,” Zac offered, quickly getting up and leaving the room, “call out if you need anything.”  
Isaac gave him a nod as he answered the call, immediately diving back into work and savoring the distraction.


	7. 6

“Mr Hanson? Your escort is here,” Finucane came to fetch him from where he’d been standing in the doorway to Carey’s room.  
Both Emma and the other doctor were keeping a close eye on his progress, and he was already able to move his fingers and toes. But he still couldn’t talk.  
“Call me if you need anything,” he came to put a hand on Emma’s shoulder, “and… get him to call me when he can anyway.”  
“Thanks Taylor,” she offered a smile, “you’ve done plenty already.”  
He really didn’t feel as though he had, but he needed to get home and make sure everyone was okay. He’d tried calling Natalie but it was still early hours.  
He gave her shoulder a pat before checking on Ellie one last time as he walked by and headed for the front door. Finucane waited until he was outside before closing the door behind him. A patrol car sat in the driveway behind Taylor’s hire car and he made his way to the driver’s side so he could speak with the officer.  
“Ready to go Mr Miller?” his brow rose, “hop in.”  
“I’m…” Taylor caught himself, not sure what story they would have been given, “yeah, but I need to drop the hire car off at the airport so I’ll need to drive.”  
The officer looked at his partner who in turn got out of the car. Taylor waited to see what he would do, but he just stopped at the end of the hood.  
“Let’s go,” he gave Taylor a nod, indicating for him to get into the hire car.  
Taylor sighed to himself before making his way over. This was going to be awkward.

They were well on their way toward LAX when the officer suddenly cleared his throat. With the deafening silence that had preceded it, it made Taylor jump.  
“You’re not a Miller, are you?” he said it very casually.  
“What do you mean?” Taylor frowned, keeping his eyes on the road in case it was a ploy to book him for something.  
“If you were, you’d know who I was.”  
Taylor did glance across at that, worried that he should have been paying more attention when he’d gotten into the car. But he didn’t recognize him.  
“So you’re either Colin Reis, or Sergeant Jesse Musgrove.”  
“Shit,” Taylor couldn’t stop himself cursing under his breath.  
“Or you’re that pop star from Oklahoma, which seems most unlikely. Do us all a favor and pull over up there.”  
Taylor saw where he indicated and for a moment debated with himself whether to comply or not. In the end he knew he didn’t really have a choice. The officer’s backup had been closely following them all the way from Carey’s house.  
The patrol car followed him as he pulled off onto the shoulder, and the officer soon radioed to ask his partner if everything was okay. When he replied that there was nothing to worry about Taylor realized he was keeping his partner in the dark.  
“ID,” he demanded as soon as the car stopped.  
“You’re not going to like this,” Taylor warned as he reached for his wallet.  
“I don’t care.”  
Taylor just handed him the whole wallet, while wondering what the protocol would be with the labs for people finding out about the program. While they hadn’t been specifically strict with family and friends of the clones themselves it was still a covert government enterprise that needed discretion.  
While the saying was ‘any publicity is good publicity’ this was not something he wanted to test out.  
“Hanson,” Taylor could feel him sizing him up, despite avoiding eye contact.  
“I told you that you wouldn’t like it.”  
He heard the officer sigh before pulling out his personal cell phone. Taylor watched as he scrolled through it before showing Taylor the screen.  
“Is this your wife?”  
“Why do you have a photo of my wife saved in your phone?” Taylor frowned, knowing that lying would be a bad idea at this point.  
“I thought as much,” the officer ignored the question, “I was right.”  
“About what?” Taylor demanded, “why do you have a photo of my wife?!”  
“Because either she’s having a Chicago affair, or you have been impersonating Colin Reis.”  
Taylor couldn’t stop his face losing color, he just hoped the officer couldn’t see it in the dark.  
“And now that I know you’re actually friends with the Millers, things just got a whole lot more interesting.”  
“We’ve done nothing wrong,” Taylor insisted.  
“I’d call perversion of justice something wrong, wouldn’t you?”  
“It wasn’t-“  
“Where’s the car?”  
“I don’t know, I don’t know anything about a car. I hired this one,” Taylor’s frustration showed.  
“Where’s Mark Miller?”  
“I don’t know. As far as I know, no one knows.”  
“How convenient.”  
“Look I need to get home,” Taylor insisted, “my family could be in danger, and there are forces at work here beyond your or my control. Are you going to let me go?”  
The officer stared him down as if deciding.  
“My flight is at 6am,” Taylor emphasized.  
“I saved your number from when you called us last time,” the officer handed the wallet back, “you’ll be hearing from me. There’s something weird going on here and I’m going to find out what it is.”  
“Fine,” Taylor took it and slid it back into his pocket, “can we go now?”

Alex sprang into action as soon as the call came through. He’d been waiting for it impatiently and almost fallen asleep again in the meantime.  
“Carey?!”  
“Yeah it’s me.”  
“Are you okay? What happened? I haven’t heard anything from the team but I saw you didn’t leave home and I know Taylor left a while back and I wasn’t sure if I needed to send more people or-“  
“Alex slow down,” Carey sounded tired, “I’m fine, getting more mobile by the second. They drugged me with some kind of paralyzing agent.”  
“Why?” Alex frowned, his mind already racing to work out the probability of it happening to him too.  
The labs hadn’t saved Damien last time.  
“They were going to take me. They had transport planned and everything,” Carey cast his eyes down the hall to where Emma was seeing the doctors off, “but they took one look at my hand and left me.”  
“What?”  
“Can you record something before I forget it?”  
“Sure,” Alex quickly set up the program for it, “what do you have?”  
“The first thing I remember them saying was Он поврежден.”  
“Give me a second I’ll run it through a translator,” Alex got to work immediately, “what was the context?”  
“He said it when he saw my hand. It didn’t sound good.”  
“Okay. It looks like it means… corrupted, damaged or broken.”  
“This is why they left me behind, I know it,” Carey insisted, “they saw my broken hand and that was it, they didn’t want me.”  
“Which means they might go after someone else instead,” Alex realized, already wondering how he could improve the lab’s security.  
Damien had been taken from Dallas and not Nevada, but who knew if that mattered?  
“There’s one other thing I remember them saying just before they left,” Carey added, knowing Alex was getting stressed, “and I don’t know if I’m pronouncing it right but it was something like Вместо этого мы берем его брата.”  
“Translating…” Alex sent the audio to the translator.  
He froze when he saw what came up.  
“Alex?” Carey frowned when he’d been quiet for a while.  
“Uh…”  
“Alex what is it? I swear if you-“  
“They used the word ‘brother’,” Alex blurted.  
“Brother?” Carey frowned.  
“Something about taking your brother instead.”  
Carey paused, not even hearing Emma coming back toward the room.  
“Carey?” Alex double checked the line to make sure he hadn’t lost him.  
Carey rubbed his face, trying to pull himself together.  
“So they’re going after Mark,” he realized, “they’re going after Mark instead of me.”

Taylor checked his phone the moment he landed in Dallas and he finally had missed calls from Natalie. Not wanting to be overheard, he opted to wait until he was in the terminal to call her back.  
“Are you guys okay?”  
“You know when I wake up to a dozen missed calls from you and that’s how you greet me…”  
“Sorry,” Taylor winced, “it’s been a long night and I haven’t slept yet.”  
“What happened?”  
Taylor didn’t want to tell her over the phone, but he also needed her to be on guard until he got home.  
“Nothing major,” he lied, “but just make sure the security’s up and running and maybe keep the kids inside until I get home.”  
“That doesn’t sound like nothing major, Tay.”  
“I’ll be home in like two hours we’ll talk then,” he promised, “we’re boarding.”  
“Taylor-“  
“Love you,” he quickly ended the call and dashed to join the line, one of the last already due to the flight from LAX getting in late.

While Alex had spent the better part of the past six months using his spare time to search for Mark, he stepped up the effort as soon as he got off the phone with Carey. Trying to ignore his lack of sleep he dove right into working on a couple of leads he thought he’d found days earlier, completely forgetting to even inform Morris of Carey’s call.  
Mark had had his tracer removed while in El Paso, Texas about a month after he’d last contacted anyone. When he’d left Tulsa Carey had insisted that he just needed time to get his head around everything, but he’d gradually gotten more and more worried about his brother as time went on and by the time he’d asked Alex to actively look for him it had been too late. The tracer was inactive and as far as Alex could tell he’d moved on from El Paso altogether.  
The last physical place that Alex had tracked him to had been an independent mechanic workshop just on the outskirts of town. But he’d called them asking for a forwarding address and Mark hadn’t left them on the best of terms so they didn’t have one. Alex hadn’t asked for details on the argument.  
He started his new search by tapping into facial recognition software employed in banks with outward facing security cameras along the southern border heading back toward Los Angeles, just in case he might head that way. He figured he’d check as far as the Arizona border and then try the other direction just in case Mark might head to Florida instead. He didn’t know him well enough to work out if he’d stay close to home or just carry on.  
He started awake suddenly to a knock on his door many hours later. He’d fallen asleep drooped over his keyboard. He quickly dismissed the cleaner who’d come to do his room, before trying to remember where he’d been up to.  
This was going to be a massive task. ‘Needle in a haystack’ proportions. He was going to need help.  
Ignoring the growl of his empty stomach he replaced his headset and made an internal call.  
“Hi could I speak to Walker Hanson please?” he asked the person who answered, “I was told he’d be working on this floor today and I just have a quick favor to ask him.”  
He chewed on his lip as he waited for the response. Since being appointed Walker hadn’t officially acted as liaison to any of the clones yet, opting to stay by Diana’s side as long as the lab needed her here. But if there were a more perfect way to start Alex wasn’t sure what it would be.  
It’s hard to be liaison for somebody you can’t find.


	8. 7

As soon as Taylor got in the door he sought out Natalie. Penny was helping her make snacks in the kitchen while the other kids were watching a movie.  
“Everything okay here?” he was slightly out of breath.  
“That really doesn’t help,” Natalie pointed a fork at his dishevelled appearance.  
She handed Penny the finished plate, and his daughter eyed him before taking it in to her siblings.  
“What’s going on?” Natalie demanded once she’d gone.  
“Carey was attacked, just before we got there,” he admitted, “we weren’t sure if it was clone related or not so I just wanted to get home as soon as possible.”  
“Is he okay?” Natalie frowned, “that’s not a great start to being home.”  
“He is now, I guess,” Taylor checked his watch, “I should probably call him.”  
“Speaking of… Bex called, she didn’t know what flight you were on,” Natalie was half scornful half knowing, “a police officer from LA has been calling the office all morning asking when he could speak with you. He said you would know what it was about.”  
Taylor visibly winced.  
“What is it?” her eyes narrowed.  
“It’s the cop that called that time about Colin’s car when Mark had it,” he quickly blew over, “I ran into him in LA and he’s starting to put two and two together I think.”  
“Maybe you should call your Dad?”  
Taylor frowned at that before finally pulling his bag from his shoulder.  
“I think I can handle a cop on the other side of the country,” he defended.  
“Sure. What could go wrong here?” Natalie muttered under her breath.  
“I’ll call Morris,” Taylor relented, “they can deal with it.”  
He left the room to put his things away, leaving Natalie to roll her eyes.  
“And your father is one of them,” she said to herself.

“Have you tried asking Rachel?” Carey was sitting at the dining table where he’d started to brainstorm ideas on how to find his missing brother.  
“She’s still not answering my calls,” Emma shrugged from the kitchen, “I tried from Tulsa.”  
“And she left no forwarding address,” Carey muttered to himself, “so finding her would be like finding Mark and we know they won’t be together so-“  
“Focus,” Emma insisted, boiling some water on the stove.  
“I just wish she’d let us try and explain what happened is all,” he grumbled before getting back to it, “she and Mark really were meant for each other. I mean just because we didn’t share a womb doesn’t mean we aren’t brothers! Why would he just ditch us altogether?!”  
“I’m sure he felt the same way when you left.”  
“I didn’t leave because of him,” Carey scorned, looking across at her, “you know that fully well. He knew that fully well.”  
“Just because that’s what really happened, it doesn’t mean that’s how he felt about it,” Emma scoffed.  
“I’m tired of defending myself to him,” Carey shook his head, “but this? This wasn’t even me. This had nothing to do with me. This was the Hansons and their bullshit.”  
“Maybe you should get some sleep,” Emma suggested, “you’re getting cranky, like Ellie does when she’s tired.”  
Carey couldn’t think of a response to that. He couldn’t decide if he were offended or not. He hadn’t slept since the night before, but for now he couldn’t stand what he saw when he closed his eyes either.  
“After lunch,” Emma realized his brain had snapped, “take a nap, then get back to work. I’ll answer if Alex calls.”

Taylor arrived at a mostly empty studio later in the day, eventually finding Zac on the couch with his headset on. It took moving behind the TV for Zac to realize he was there.  
“Oh hey,” he quickly pulled his headphones off.  
“Where’s Ike?” Taylor frowned.  
“Ah… he went to get us something to eat. Want me to add your order?” he pulled out his cell phone.  
“No that’s okay, I’m not hungry. What are you doing?”  
“We were taking a break so I was going to work a campaign with Alex but he’s not online and not answering calls.”  
“Yeah he might have his hands full,” Taylor’s hands slid into his pockets.  
“That sounds ominous,” Zac’s eyes narrowed, “what happened?”  
The sound of the front door opening was a welcome distraction.   
“Tay?” Zac didn’t fall for it.  
“There’s something going on,” Taylor admitted, “but I can’t really make sense of it yet.”  
“What do you mean?”  
“Hey,” Isaac stopped short in the doorway when he saw Taylor there, “sorry I didn’t get you anyth-“  
“He’s not hungry. Tay!” Zac cut in.  
“I need to talk to Carey, I think,” Taylor was getting flustered at Zac’s pressure.  
“Why?” Isaac jumped on, without having moved, “did something happen?”  
“I’m trying to find out,” Zac stood from the couch and folded his arms.  
“I don’t know as much as you’re assuming that I know,” Taylor took a step back from him, “when we got to the house Carey had been attacked. He’d been drugged and he was paralyzed by something. Emma checked the security footage and it was the Russians.”  
“The Russians?!” Isaac felt his heart skip a beat.  
“We don’t know what they want yet, but they had an opportunity to take him and they didn’t,” Taylor quickly added, “so maybe they were just testing him or something. I called Alex and he was going to be on it.”  
“Did you call Dad?” Isaac asked, Zac’s eyes going between his brothers.  
“No,” Taylor admitted, “but maybe Carey has, I don’t know.”  
On cue, Taylor’s phone rang.  
“Is security on?” Zac asked Isaac while Taylor was distracted.  
“It can be,” Isaac set the bags on the piano and left the studio floor.  
“Alex?” Taylor answered as soon as he saw the caller ID.  
“Hi Taylor, you’re at the studio right?”  
“Yes,” Taylor didn’t think he’d ever get used to how easily Alex could track him.  
“If Zac’s there tell him I’m sorry I skipped out this afternoon, I fell asleep.”  
“Tell him yourself,” Taylor put his phone on speaker.  
“Alex?” Zac frowned, stepping closer to the phone.  
“Uh hey. Sorry about this afternoon, it’s been a bit crazy here since last night and I fell asleep.”  
“Taylor was just about to fill us in on what happened in LA,” Zac gave his brother a pointed look, “I don’t suppose you could help with that?”  
“I could. What do you know?”  
“I told them it was the Russians but that’s all that _I_ know,” Taylor said defensively.  
“Okay well… don’t go running for the bunkers just yet. Carey overheard some things they said while they were with him and I ran them through a translator. He said they were getting ready to move him before they saw he was missing a finger and decided he was too ‘damaged’.”  
“That doesn’t tell us we shouldn’t run,” Zac pointed out, “what if they come for Tay instead? Or you, for that matter?”  
“Something else they said,” Alex went on as Isaac returned, coming to the phone when he realized what was happening, “they said – and this is from Carey’s translation so it’s about as accurate as I could get it – that they would take his brother instead.”  
“His brother?” Isaac frowned, looking to Taylor.  
“Technically Tay is Carey’s brother,” Zac only looked more worried.  
“Not according to the Russians. In the profiles they had on us they still considered the Millers to be twins. Don’t forget we only know the truth because of your Dad spilling the beans.”  
There was a pause.  
“I’m not even sure if Morris knows, honestly.”  
“You think they’re going after Mark?” Taylor confirmed.  
“I’ve spent the better part of the day trying to track him down again, and I called your Dad to get him on it too.”  
“Does he know what’s going on?” Isaac asked.  
“He knows more than Morris does, unless he’s reporting to him.”  
“Why aren’t you telling Morris?” Taylor frowned.  
“We had a disagreement last night, don’t worry about it.”  
“So what do you expect us to do?” Zac spoke up, “we’re in the middle of booking tour dates and we’ll probably do promo within the week. This is _really_ bad timing for us.”  
“Just when we thought things might finally be settling down,” Isaac added.  
“I don’t know,” Alex sounded confused, “I can’t tell you that. Be careful I guess?”  
Isaac sighed as Taylor rolled his eyes.  
“What’s our Dad doing?” Zac asked, “did he tell you anything?”  
“No, he just asked for whatever I could hand over and we both sort of went our own way on this.”  
“Not a surprise,” Taylor muttered.  
“Alright well, keep us updated?” Zac was hopeful.  
“Definitely. I’ll let you know if they find Mark or if these guys make an appearance anywhere.”  
“Where’s Kea?” Isaac thought to ask.  
“He’s still here with me, so if I’m safe then he is too.”  
“Okay.”  
“Mark’s the only wildcard,” Taylor thought out loud, garnering an awkward glance from Zac.  
“Thanks Alex,” Zac took a step back.  
“Yes thanks for the update,” Taylor agreed.  
“Talk soon,” Alex ended the call from his end.  
The brothers each sighed and Taylor scratched his head as Isaac stepped away.  
“We don’t go anywhere we don’t have to,” Isaac’s hands went into his pockets, “we keep all the security running – we’ll test it to make sure it’s all working. The less people we have at the studio the better, if anything happens we don’t want anyone caught in the crossfire.”

Alex answered the moment he got the call.  
“Yes Walker? Uh, Sir? Mr Hanson?” he wasn’t quite sure how to address him yet.  
“Mr Bell, just calling to update you directly. I’ll be taking the next flight out to Los Angeles to go and speak with some people we have Mark Miller down as being associated with.”  
“Wouldn’t Carey have tried that already?” Alex frowned.  
“I will speak with him and between us work out who has and has not been spoken to.”  
“I can let him know you’re on your way,” Alex offered, “I was just about to call and ask him something anyway.”  
“Sure. Tell him I’ll be there by nightfall.”  
“Can do. Anything else I can help you with, Sir?”  
“Yes. Keep an eye on my sons for me.”  
“Done and done,” Alex assured, “I’m not letting Taylor out of my sight.”  
“Thank you Alex.”  
Once the call ended Alex quickly looked up what flights were left between their nearest airport and LAX before calling Carey. Not seeing many options he kicked himself for not checking charter options as well.  
“Alex, have you found something?” Carey answered hopefully.  
“Not yet, sorry. But Walker Hanson is on his way out to you. He’s going to talk to people Mark associated with and try and get a lead there.”  
“We’ve already tried that,” Carey scorned.  
“I know, I told him, but maybe they know people he never told you about or something?” Alex shrugged, “I don’t know, I’m just the middle man.”  
“When you say he’s on his way here, do you mean to us or just to LA?”  
“I… forgot to ask, sorry. But if he’s coming he should be there around six.”  
“Thanks,” Carey’s mind was already racing.  
He didn’t know how he felt about having Walker in his house. But at the same time, if Taylor could handle their tribe taking over his, he didn’t really have a leg to stand on.  
“Everything okay?” Alex asked when the line had gone quiet for a while.  
“Yeah, I’m just wondering if involving Walker was really the best thing for Mark,” Carey thought out loud.  
“He’s supposed to be our liaison,” Alex reminded.  
“I know, but with the whole… him technically being our father thing not to mention us not being-“  
He cut himself off, almost feeling his heart stop.  
“Shit, I think I know where to find Mark.”


	9. 8

“Don’t speed!” Carey insisted, “just stay in the right lane, but we’ll take a shortcut.”  
“If you don’t stop I’m going to purposely drive us into the barrier just to shut you up,” Emma said between her teeth.  
She understood that Carey was excited at the prospect of finding his brother, but his backseat driving was convincing her they should have called a cab.  
He closed his mouth and tried to stay quiet. It lasted about five seconds.  
“What if he runs?” his knee was bouncing, “what if he sees us and takes off in the other direction?”  
“We can’t save someone who doesn’t want to be saved,” Emma shrugged, “I mean I can play the Ellie card but who knows if that will even work?”  
Carey checked over his shoulder to where Ellie sat in her booster seat with her child headphones on.  
“There’s also no guarantee he’ll even be there,” he conceded.

Emma opted to stay in the car once she pulled up outside the care facility. Carey took only his walking cane in with him, his adrenaline enough to keep his legs moving. Inside he was greeted by an unfamiliar receptionist.  
“Hi Mark, you’re late today,” she smiled placidly, “it might not be a good idea to-“  
“Actually I’m not Mark,” Carey was surprised the hair hadn’t given him away, “I’m his brother.”  
“Oh, sorry,” the girl became a little flustered, “well visiting hours are about to end, so…”  
“I’m actually not here for Dad, I was looking for Mark,” he corrected, “has he been by at all…?”  
“Sure. Is something wrong?”  
“Maybe. Um… is there a regular time of day that he stops by?”  
“I don’t know that I should really…”  
“I’m obviously his brother,” Carey defended, “right? I’m not collecting a debt or anything. I’m just worried about him is all. I haven’t heard from him in a while.”  
The girl chewed on her lip for a moment, unsure.  
“Please?” he turned on the puppy eyed look as best he could.  
“He should be by tomorrow around lunchtime,” she kept her voice down.  
“Thank you, thank you!” Carey could have hugged her if there weren’t a desk between them.  
A car horn went off outside. It took a moment for Carey to realize it was his.  
“I’ll see you tomorrow!” he insisted, before quickly heading back for the door.  
Emma stopped once she caught sight of him, but it had made him look around in case Mark were outside. There was no one on the sidewalk. Unable to stop himself smiling he made his way back to the car and got in.  
“Receptionist said he’ll be here tomorrow around lunch,” he said as he fastened his seatbelt, “so we can go home and come back then and hopefully catch him.”  
“I don’t think we’re going anywhere Care.”  
Carey looked across to see fright in her eyes. He had to take a moment to make sure no one was in the back seat with a gun to her head.  
“What’s wrong?”  
She looked down. Only then did Carey notice that her water had broken.

“Oh no,” Alex’s eyes darted across the screen, “what are you doing? Where are you going? What’s happening?!”  
He sent a call through to Carey but only got his voicemail. Seeing where he was, he checked the security footage of the facility, but none of the outward facing cameras were directed at where their car must have been.   
“Oh come on…” his fingers tapped against the table anxiously before he took note of the time.  
Instead, he called Walker.   
“Mr Bell?” he was surprised to hear from him so soon.  
“I’m going to send you an address,” Alex didn’t bother with pleasantries, “it’s where Mark and Carey’s Dad has been for the last fifteen years or so.”  
“I know where that is,” Walker assured, “I was planning to go there in the morning.”  
“Okay you might want to go there right now. Carey’s been there for about twenty minutes and his heartrate has skyrocketed in that time.”  
“Inside of the building or out?”  
“Outside,” Alex wondered why that mattered.  
“Thanks, I’ll check in.”  
Walker ended the call before Alex could ask. He stopped to close his eyes and take a deep breath, knowing it was a waiting game now.

Long before Walker ever made it, the Millers were on their way to the hospital. Carey had been on the phone to an ambulance at the time Alex was trying to call and was now thanking his lucky stars he hadn’t had to help Emma give birth in their car in the parking lot.   
The ride was tense, though Emma’s contractions were far and few between. They made it to the hospital in good time and Carey opted to use a wheelchair once he was there so that he could keep Ellie in his lap. She was getting distressed at her mother’s wails.  
Between comforting Ellie and trying to stop Emma panicking at the baby being a week early, Carey didn’t think to contact anyone. All he could focus on was being at Emma’s side.

Walker wasn’t too surprised to not find them when he arrived. It was dark by the time he got there and there were minimal staff in the building. All the same, not knowing how far Carey made it into his enquiry, Walker approached the desk and leant an elbow over it.  
“Good evening,” he greeted the older lady with a smile, “I’m a representative of the National CDC and I was hoping to speak with somebody about a patient you have here, Gerard Miller.”  
“Credentials, please?” the woman looked up expectantly, though his smile had warmed her already.  
“Of course,” he reached for his wallet.  
A slight flick of his wrist opened it to the right card which he happily showed. The lady smiled once she saw it.  
“I’m not sure why the CDC would be interested in old Gerard Miller,” she shook her head, “he was a stroke victim, and some time ago.”  
“I’m actually more interested in his visitor logs,” Walker corrected, “we’re looking for one of his sons.”  
“Marcus?”  
“That’s the one,” Walker gave her a wink.  
“I believe he disappeared for a while, a few months back, but he was in yesterday on that noisy motorcycle of his,” she reached for the sign-in book.  
“What about his brother, Carey?” Walker asked, “I believe he was here maybe an hour or so ago?”  
“My shift has only just started, but I can ask Louise for you?”  
“If you wouldn’t mind,” he smiled again as he took the book from her.  
She left the desk unattended as she went to find her co-worker. Walker took advantage of the absence to check back through the logs and see how regularly Mark was visiting. Being a manual log it only went back three months but in the past two Mark had visited at least two or three times a week. Judging by the pattern he was due again the next day.  
Walker used his phone to take photos of the last three visit times and dates before quickly putting it away as the woman returned.  
“I have a story for you,” she seemed pleased with herself, “Marcus’ brother doesn’t usually come in here. We don’t know why. But he came in earlier asking about Marcus the same as you, and his wife went into labour while waiting for him in the car.”  
“Is that so?” Walker feigned surprise.  
“Had an ambulance turn up outside and everything! Sad I missed it. Anywho, they must have been on their way to the hospital by the time I got here so…”  
“Did anyone definitely see the ambulance?”  
“Louise did,” she looked confused at the question.  
“Great, thank you,” Walker smiled again, “will either you or your friend Louise be working the morning shift tomorrow?”  
“No, I’m afraid not. That’s a long time from now.”  
“Good, good. I’ll be back to hopefully run into Mr Miller tomorrow. I’d appreciate it if he weren’t warned about it.”  
“My lips are zipped,” the lady promised with a cheeky smile.  
“Much appreciated. Thank you very much for your help.”  
“You’re very welcome!”  
Walker left the building and paused on the sidewalk. He pulled out his phone to check that the photos he’d taken had worked, before dialling Alex’s extension.  
“What’s happening? Uh, Sir?” he was still very anxious.  
“Call off the hounds, I believe Carey Miller is perfectly safe,” Walker assured, “they were taken to the hospital due to his wife being in labour.”  
“…Oh.”  
“I’ll follow this lead on Mark Miller tomorrow. Goodnight Mr Bell.”  
“Goodnight Mr Hanson. Thank you!”

Taylor startled awake sometime in the night, convinced there was somebody in his room. In his effort to quickly turn on the bedside lamp he startled Natalie awake too.  
“Tay?!” she’d jumped up before the light even came on.  
He froze and stared at the corner of the room where he was sure there’d been a silhouette a moment earlier.  
“Tay come on, I don’t know how much longer I can do this,” Natalie grumbled as she collapsed back into her pillow.  
“I’m sorry,” he rubbed his face as he struggled to catch his breath.  
“You need to see somebody,” her muffled voice came from the pillow, “maybe get something to help you actually sleep.”  
“I don’t need a doctor,” he went on the defence, “I need to be in control of my life again!”  
He stopped himself and closed his eyes.  
“Sorry,” he quickly apologized for the outburst, “I’ll let you get back to sleep.”  
He got out of bed and grabbed his cell phone before turning off the light and leaving the room.  
Taylor sat at the kitchen counter where he started checking messages on his phone. There were a few from Isaac trying to double check some tour dates with him, which he had to check his calendar before responding to. They had some family things to work this tour around on top of a tentative curfew they were preparing to give Morris. But they’d hit the ground running so fast with this tour prep that they were almost already done with the States and ready to look at international dates.  
It had all happened in the span of a few days, so Taylor was hoping to talk his brothers into waiting at least a week before looking at international shows. Those would still be at least six months away anyhow.  
He took a few notes down before replying to Isaac’s last message with what they could and couldn’t do. Only after he’d sent it did he think to check the time.  
Hopefully Isaac had turned his phone off before he’d gone to bed, or he’d probably have a cranky brother to deal with at work in the morning.  
A responding text telling him to go to bed told him the first option hadn’t happened and he couldn’t help but smirk. He debated for a moment about taking up the couch but figured sleep wouldn’t be an option for at least a couple of hours yet. Trying to think of who else would be up at this hour, he checked his phone before dialling one of the first numbers to come up.  
“Taylor? Everything okay?” Alex’s voice came through.  
“Yes, I just thought you of all people would be awake at this hour,” Taylor mused, “why are you?”  
“There’s been a lot going on.”  
“Tell me about it. So ah… random question, but I don’t suppose you’d have any quick remedies for these nightmares I’ve been having, would you?”  
“Nightmares?”  
“Yeah. Emma said that Carey was having them too.”  
“What kind of nightmares?”  
Taylor shrugged to himself as he tried to think of how to describe them.  
“I don’t know, they’re dark,” he frowned, “I keep hearing what we heard in the cells in Russia. Their boots, the yells, the… I don’t know. Just people grabbing for me.”  
“No offense, but I would have thought of all of us you’d be more used to that.”  
“This is different,” Taylor bit his lip, “this is more final. I just know they want me dead.”  
“I mean I can look at some options for you but I don’t know if you’re gonna like them very much.”  
“How so?” Taylor frowned again.  
“Well it’s not really a sleep thing, it’s more of a mental thing. Therapy might be the only thing that helps.”  
“I don’t think therapy would help with this.”  
“That’s what everyone says.”  
“Not to mention, I don’t think Morris would like it if we all suddenly started telling doctors our deepest and darkest, if you know what I mean.”  
“I’ve been offered it through the labs.”  
“Really?” Taylor wasn’t sure how he felt about that.  
“Really. After Mom died and the whole circumstances surrounding that, it was actually a decent help.”  
“But I’d have to come in, right?”  
“I don’t know for sure. They might be able to send someone out to you.”  
Taylor sighed and scratched his forehead. Considering the labs were the direct cause of half the nightmares he wasn’t sure it would be a good idea.  
“I’ll think about it,” he promised, “if I don’t do something soon I might be looking at divorce instead.”


	10. 9

“So if I had actually done what Nicole had told me to in the first place and turned the phone off it wouldn’t have happened anyway,” Isaac was saying as Taylor entered the office the following morning.  
“Speak of the devil,” Zac smirked.  
“Sorry,” Taylor pulled his scarf from his neck, “I only realized the time after I’d sent the message.”  
“Still not sleeping?” Zac checked.  
“I’m sleeping, just not all the way through the night,” he shrugged, “but that doesn’t mean I want everyone else to suffer too.”  
“I sent off a confirmation email on those dates,” Isaac ignored the apology, “hopefully we’ll hear back today.”  
“We pretty much have both the start and the end of the tour finalized though, right?” Taylor looked between them, “so we could give Morris that information.”  
“Let’s not get ahead of ourselves,” Zac insisted, “we’ll lock in some more first just in case something goes wrong.”  
“We do have a possible booking as soon as next week though. A TV spot that won’t air until maybe halfway through the tour,” Isaac looked up at Taylor, “plus KTUL have offered us an interview for pre-tour just to tell everyone what we’ve been doing outside of the Hop Jam.”  
“So we should probably work out what we’re going to say about that,” Zac grit his teeth.  
“Next week?” Taylor confirmed.  
“Next week.”  
“Right. Then we have a week to come up with a story.”  
“Any ideas?” Zac looked between them.  
“Focusing on family would be the easiest option,” Isaac suggested, “and it wouldn’t really be a lie.”  
“Extended family,” Zac smirked.  
“We could probably work with that,” Taylor agreed, “what about getting the team actually involved in this tour?”  
“As soon as this Russian thing dies down?” Zac suggested.  
“We don’t know that it’s going to die down,” Isaac pointed out, “I mean if they can’t get a hold of Mark, they might just go for the next one on the list. With Alex and Kea at the labs that means Tay.”  
Taylor took a seat, trying not to react to that.  
“I guess it depends on what they want this time,” Zac pointed out.

“You’re fine, you’re fine!” Carey insisted, trying to talk Emma through another contraction and wishing he’d given her something to squeeze other than his hand, “it’ll all be over soon! Just a few more seconds!”  
Once it was over they both had to catch their breath.  
“I want this baby out,” she grumbled, rubbing her eyes.  
“I know, I know. I’ll be right back.”  
“What?” she looked up at him, “you’re not serious, you’re leaving me?!”  
“I’m just going to the bathroom!” he promised, “it’s just down the hall. I’ll be back before the next one I swear.”  
“You’d better be,” she glared, dropping her head back to the pillow.  
He shot a quick glance at where a nurse was distracting Ellie before rolling the wheelchair to the door. Once outside he paused to run his fingers through his hair before stretching out his hand and then heading down toward the nearest gift shop.  
He purchased a soft teddy bear before heading back. He made it to the room in time for a familiar nurse to meet him at the door.  
“Mr Miller, while I have you here,” she attempted to pull him aside.  
“Is something wrong?” he asked, worried about the timing now.  
“Per our examination earlier, the baby is in perfect position to be delivered, so don’t worry too much about the delivery,” she assured, “but could you tell us if anything in particular brought on her early labour?”  
“Did anything bring it on?” he repeated back, and she nodded.  
His mind raced to work out what he could tell her.  
“Uh… could stress have done it? We’ve both been pretty stressed the past few days,” he shrugged somewhat innocently, “we had a break in while I was home and I know it upset her.”  
“That may have done it,” the nurse offered a calming smile, “we’ll know more once the baby is out but I don’t foresee you having too many problems this late in the pregnancy. We will most likely need to keep them both in for observation for at least a few days however.”  
“Understandable. Whatever it takes,” Carey insisted before hearing a yell from Emma.  
Without waiting to be civil he raced back into the room, almost throwing the bear at her.  
“Here! I’m here!” he insisted as she caught it.  
He instantly saw its eyes bulge and was glad that hadn’t been his hand.  
“Oh my God how dare you do this to me _again_!” she was growling between the shooting pain.  
“I know. I’m sorry. I’m a horrible person. Take it out on the teddy,” he insisted.

Walker sat in his hire car across the road from the care facility and read over some charts as he waited. He’d gotten there mid-morning after quickly checking in at the hospital (the Millers unaware) and fetching himself some breakfast.   
It was just after midday when he heard the motorcycle approaching. He could easily recognize Mark from a distance. The timing told Walker that he’d most likely found himself a job of some sort in the area. Mark pulled the bike into the small parking lot in front of the building and casually parked it before grabbing a small backpack from one of the panniers and heading inside. With a sigh Walker set his papers aside and got out of the car.  
Mark was in there for a good half hour or so before emerging. He made his way straight back to the bike and put the bag away before replacing his sunglasses and getting on. Walker watched him struggle to start it for a minute or so before getting out of his car again and making his way over.  
“They can be fickle things…” he began, making Mark look up, “need some help?”  
Mark sighed when he recognized him and hung his head. He lazily raised his hands in the air.  
“I give up,” he muttered, “I knew you assholes would find me eventually.”  
“I’m not here to take you in,” Walker assured, coming to rest at the side of the bike.  
“Then what?” Mark put his hands down, “a welfare check? I’m fine.”  
“It’s a little more than that I’m afraid,” Walker turned to indicate the trailer attached to his car, “how about we get your bike loaded and we go have a chat?”  
Mark eyed the trailer and grit his teeth. The bike not being able to start had been no coincidence.

The pain in Carey’s legs was nothing compared to the pain in his hand. Sometime in the last hour or so the bear had ended up thrown at the far wall of the delivery room and he hadn’t been given a chance to retrieve it before Emma had grabbed him by the arm. Ellie had been taken from the room some time ago as time started to count down.  
“You’re going to have to start pushing soon,” an attending nurse put her hand to Emma’s forehead.  
“Just tell me when!” she insisted.  
“If you feel ready to go now, then go now.”  
“Now?” Carey’s eyes widened as the OBGYN took up her position.  
“Now,” the nurse opposite gave him an amused smile.  
Emma started her first push right away and Carey wasn’t prepared for the pain in his hand to explode again.   
“Daddy if you want to see this it’s time to take up position,” a second nurse beside the OBGYN gave him a nod.  
“I can see fine from right here,” he insisted, knowing that Emma wasn’t going to let him move.  
“You’re doing great honey but I can’t see anything yet,” the OBGYN called from the end of the table.  
“Ready for another push?” the nurse prompted.  
“No,” Emma took a few deep breaths before pushing again anyway.  
“You are awesome,” Carey leant in to her, “you are doing _so_ good. I’m so proud of you.”  
“Oh fuck you! Why aren’t you on this table?!”  
“I would be if I could I swear,” Carey lied, “but you’re handling this way better than I ever could.”  
“SHUT UP!”  
“I can see the head!” the OBGYN announced, “just a few more and we’ll be done!”  
“Oh God,” Emma panted, falling back onto the pillow again.  
“You heard her,” Carey’s heart was racing, “we’re nearly there.”  
“Oh God I’m gonna die.”  
“You’re not going to die. No one here is going to let you die. Women do this every day, you’re just a part of a beautiful facet of evolution that-“  
“I swear to God if you finish that sentence I am going to break your neck.”  
“You’re the boss.”  
“Come on Emma, push again,” the OBGYN prompted when it had been a while.  
A few more quick breaths and Emma pushed.   
“Oh not quite. I think two more,” the assisting nurse guessed.  
“FUCK!”  
“We’re really close to this being over,” Carey tried to reassure her, “then you can sleep, you can cry, you can hit me if you want, you just have to do this one last thing.”  
“I don’t want to!”  
“It’s a little late for that.”  
“Just state the fucking obvious one more time I dare you.”  
“Come on Emma, try one more,” the nurse to her right worked to distract her.  
“Nearly over, nearly over,” Emma closed her eyes, trying to work herself up.  
Her fist closed over Carey’s hand again and she let out a blood curdling scream as she pushed extra hard. She felt the release almost instantly, and as soon as she did a baby’s cries filled the room.  
“Oh my God,” Carey’s eyes watered when he spotted the baby for the first time, but he still didn’t leave Emma’s side, “you did it!”  
“There, there,” the OBGYN and attending nurse attempted to calm the baby a little before bringing the bundle to Carey’s side, “he’s having a little trouble breathing so we’ll say a quick hello to Mom and Dad and get you set up in the incubator.”  
Carey quickly leant over to give Emma a kiss on the forehead before finally being able to stand aside once she let his hand go.   
“Hey little guy,” he was wary about touching him at first, knowing he wasn’t at best health.  
“We’ll get him settled on Mom’s chest for a few minutes,” the nurse promised, “but he’ll have to come with us.”  
“We know, we understand,” Carey assured, feeling his nerves suddenly return.  
Emma was already reaching out for him and the nurse readily handed him over. Once she was out of the way Carey leant over the bed again.  
“How are you doing Mom?” he checked first, moving some hair out of her way so that she could kiss her tiny son.  
“We’re fine,” she was still catching her breath, “and you’re standing.”  
“I am,” Carey didn’t want to dwell on it in case his legs suddenly gave out, “but I think you win for doing the most work here.”  
“It’s not a competition, but yes I win.”  
Carey smirked before focusing on the warm little bundle on her chest instead.  
“He’s so small,” he barely whispered.  
“He’s smaller than Ellie,” Emma agreed, “he’s tiny.”  
Carey reached over to lift the fingers on the baby’s right hand. They barely managed to curl around his nail.  
“Hey Max,” he smiled, “hey little boy. Welcome home.”


	11. 10

“So what do you want?” Mark was avoiding eye contact by looking out the window as they drove, “and where are you taking me anyway?”  
“Somewhere safe.”  
“You know I got a job, and you’re about to help me lose it.”  
“I’m sure it won’t be the first time. DIGER will be happy enough to compensate any financial loss.”  
“And what if the guy wants to break my legs?”  
When Walker didn’t reply Mark glanced across before moving his sunglasses into his hair.  
“Tell me what this is about or I swear I’m going to open this door and throw myself into traffic,” he threatened, “because if it involves going back to the labs I know which option I’d rather go with.”  
“This is about our friends in the Russian military,” Walker revealed.  
“What about them?” Mark jumped on, “I thought they got what they wanted. They got the younger versions. We weren’t supposed to ever hear from them again. Morris said we were safe!”  
“They appear to have other ideas,” Walker remained calm in contrast, “your brother was attacked a couple of days ago. They nearly took him.”  
“Last time they took us all at once. We were all on that plane,” Mark insisted, “why would they go after him on his own?”  
“We don’t know. But your brother didn’t escape, he was let go.”  
Mark frowned at that, staring across at him now.  
“That doesn’t sound like the Russians we know. Are you sure it was even them?”  
“We are.”  
“That doesn’t make sense. Why attack him and just let him go?”  
“We’ve been told he was freed once they saw he was missing a finger,” Walker relented, “by the rough translation we received and from what we know of the research they did with you boys, we believe they either decided he was no longer a viable subject because he was not whole or he may have shown them that he would be susceptible to outside infection.”  
“I don’t buy it,” Mark shook his head, “not after what they did to my face in there.”  
“And yet, Carey is free.”  
“So what, you’re rounding the rest of us up again?” he shrugged, “it wouldn’t be too hard with not many of us left.”  
“No.”  
Mark couldn’t work out if he felt offended by that or not.  
“Then what am I doing here?”  
“Among our vocal translations, your name came up as a possible replacement for Carey,” Walker revealed, “so effectively, you and I need to disappear for a while.”  
Mark felt the color leave his face. Flashbacks of the lazer surgery were already behind his eyes.  
“If they want me they’re going to get me,” he was certain, “those guys aren’t the kind to just give up because I went underground for a few days.”  
“We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.”  
“What did they say? You said you had translations. Who did they talk to?” Mark demanded.  
“Your brother overheard them talk to each other. He was able to repeat what they said.”  
“And what did they say?”  
Walker glanced across at him. Mark’s expression reminded him of a determined Taylor.  
“Roughly translated, that they would take his brother instead.”  
“But I’m not his brother!” Mark insisted, “why aren’t you out there protecting Taylor? You know, your actual son?”  
“I have somebody watching Taylor, don’t worry about him.”  
“Are these Russians still in LA?”  
“We don’t know. We haven’t been able to track them.”  
“Great,” Mark sat back in his seat.  
There was another moment of awkward silence as they reached the outskirts of town.  
“I take it that means you never got Joey back,” Mark muttered eventually.  
“No, we haven’t.”  
“That’s a long time for those kids to be stuck there,” Mark frowned, “I know you don’t have Jesse there but couldn’t you find them the same way you found us? Morris said you knew where we were because of me.”  
“Unfortunately the tracers in the G series were all deactivated.”  
“How?” Mark demanded, “before they were taken?”  
“No, during transit.”  
“So they know about them now,” Mark realized, “which means if they get us, we’re fucked.”  
“So the aim is to not let them ‘get you’,” Walker amended.  
“How far out of town do we have to go?” he was definitely worried now.  
“I’d like to assume that they haven’t been closing in on you, for the fact that you’re still here,” Walker tried to reassure him, “so maybe not too far at all. But we’ll get a little closer to the labs just in case.”

Hours later and Carey hadn’t slept. He paced the halls while she rested, ‘coincidentally’ passing by the room that held Max’s incubator more than a few times. It felt weird. Not only that one of the babies in there was his, but that despite still using the walking cane he was finding it a lot easier to move. Maybe it really had been mind over matter, and it had taken the adrenaline rush to really push him into forcing his legs to work again.  
He was on his way back from a coffee run when he saw someone in the baby room not in uniform. Knowing that he’d been warned against going in there without a nurse supervising just yet, she easily caught his full attention. It didn’t take him long to recognize her.  
He immediately went for the door, causing her to look up in surprise.  
“What are you doing here?” he demanded from the doorway.  
She looked him up and down with contempt before getting back to Max’s charts.  
“Dr Morris sends his regards,” she otherwise ignored him.  
“ _Why_ are you here?” his voice rose slightly, still trying not to be loud enough to wake any of the babies.  
“Someone had to be,” she scorned, “I’m just doing my job.”  
“Like you did with Colin?” he hit back, “was he ‘just your job’?”  
She looked up again, already done with the conversation.  
“Do we need to take this outside?” she offered snidely.  
“I think we do,” he insisted, “and I wouldn’t mind you being away from my son.”  
“Fine,” she said through her teeth before making her way to the door, “but I don’t know what you think you’re going to get from me.”  
“It’ll be enough, believe me,” his eyes didn’t leave her, “you’re not leaving until I get some answers.”

*

One Week Later

“Thanks for coming so late,” Isaac was saying goodbye to Demetrius and Andrew at the door before making sure it was locked and the security was on before heading back to the studio.  
“This feels good,” Zac was insisting when he arrived, “maybe it’s because it’s been so long, but that felt _good_. We’ve been waiting for this.”  
“It felt like stretching our legs,” Taylor agreed from where he’d lazily sprawled his arms over the piano.  
“Maybe we could have just been practising once a week instead of diving back into a full-fledged tour.”  
“You’re having second thoughts?” Isaac took a seat and picked up the Fender he’d been working with.  
“Of course not, it’s just hindsight,” Zac shrugged, “I’m ready to get on the road tomorrow.”  
“Good to hear considering the interview is tomorrow afternoon.”  
“I’m ready!”  
“What about you, Tay? Are you ready?” Isaac’s brow rose.  
“Why wouldn’t I be?” Taylor frowned.  
“Maybe because you’re not sleeping and you just forgot half the words to _I Was Born_?” Zac suggested.  
“I’m ready,” Taylor insisted, “I’m just tired.”  
He sighed as he sat himself up, wondering for a moment if he should just sleep here before going home.  
“Fuck it, we should go out tonight.”  
“What?” Isaac perked up.  
“Thank God it’s an afternoon interview,” Zac muttered, removing his headphones.  
“Let’s go out,” Taylor’s eyes were on Isaac, “we’ve been under house arrest for over a week. We’re probably in more danger here than in public.”  
“A point,” Isaac agreed.  
“So if we surround ourselves with as many people as possible, getting drunk shouldn’t be a problem,” Taylor added, “and I _really_ need a drink.”  
“Is that just a nice way of saying you’re sick of our company?” Zac smirked.  
“It was an open invite,” Taylor frowned.  
“I’m in,” Isaac shrugged, “I’ve been on lockdown all week too.”  
“We all have,” Zac scorned.  
“So let’s get out. Have a breather,” Taylor insisted, “just for a couple of hours, then we’re back on lockdown.”  
“Like being let out into the yard in prison,” Isaac smirked.  
“Right!”  
“I feel like I should come just to keep an eye out,” Zac looked between them.  
“We’re not forcing you,” Isaac shrugged, “we just want to relax for a bit.”  
“And maybe it’s just me, but I don’t know that that’s the best idea,” Zac shook his head, “not when we’re about to launch this thing for good.”  
“That’s why this is the perfect time,” Taylor insisted, “because when are we going to have another chance? We’ve got KTUL and KMOD the day after tomorrow and then what, a week before the promo sets?”  
“We’re not going to have time,” Isaac agreed, “so it’s now or never.”  
Zac threw his hands up in the air.  
“Not that we needed permission but I think that’s the best we’ll get,” Taylor smirked.  
“Agreed,” Isaac returned the look.  
“Just let me pack up a bit so we’re ready for rehearsal tomorrow,” Zac grumbled, finally standing from the drum set.  
“Valkyrie? Stay close?” Isaac suggested, setting the guitar down again.  
“Fassler,” Taylor countered, “more people there at this time of night.”

The moment they got there both Isaac and Taylor took up a recently cleared spot at the bar and ordered drinks. Zac put in a request for a soda before disappearing to a table where he could play on his phone without looking rude. A few familiar faces came and went and it ended up being just what both Isaac and Taylor had felt they needed. Zac was yawning an hour in, but he was trying to watch the windows in case anyone hung around outside. With his eye line across at least half of the crowd, he kicked himself when he realized he’d already been staring blankly for some time at a man that was not at all subtly staring across at Taylor.  
Just to make sure he wasn’t imagining it, Zac started to pay attention. The bearded man looked slightly familiar but he couldn’t tell for sure under the cap and heavy jacket he wore. After a few minutes it became glaringly obvious both that he was there alone and that Taylor was his main focus.  
Zac put his phone away and stood from his spot, pushing past a few people to make it back to the bar. Both of his brothers were entirely oblivious but this had been the exact reason he hadn’t just gone home and left them there.  
He put a hand on Taylor’s shoulder and waited for his brother to actually pay attention.  
“There’s a man here over by the window with his eye on you,” he kept his voice somewhat low, “grey cap and dark jacket, large beard.”  
Taylor took a deep breath, hoping his brother was just overreacting because he was bored. But when he turned to look over his shoulder and he locked eyes with the man his heart nearly stopped altogether.  
He recognized him too.  
The man stared back quite comfortably in the time it took Zac to regain Taylor’s attention.  
“Is he one of them?” Zac still couldn’t put a finger on where he knew him from.  
“No,” Taylor skolled the rest of his beer and set the glass on the counter, “this guy’s American.”  
He stood from the bar and headed straight for him. The movement caught Isaac’s attention. In a way that felt eerily reversed Taylor slid into a spot opposite his target.  
“What are you doing here?” he demanded over the noise.  
“Watching,” was his response before taking another sip of his beer.  
“Why? I’m still not Jesse,” Taylor shook his head with a shrug.  
“Because your Pa called in a favor,” the man set his beer aside, “but don’t worry about me. You’ve got bigger things on your radar to worry about.”  
“Like what?” Taylor wasn’t sure if that had been a threat.  
“Like the two Russian boys in bullet proof vests that have been waiting outside for you all night.”


End file.
